FCC Auction approved for about 90 Mhz of spectrum

[Fire14]

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday formally approved an auction of a large swath of the radio spectrum crucial to cell phone and other wireless services.

There was little doubt the FCC would approve the auction. But the FCC had been facing pressure to rejigger the auction rules to allow participation of all types of cell phone operators, including rural operators. The rules for the auction adopted Thursday do just that, according to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.

Added FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy: "We want to make sure we have maximum flexibility and for smaller entities to come in and bid."

The commission's unanimous vote sets the stage for the largest radio-wave auction (about 90 megahertz of spectrum) for cell phone operators since 2000. Because spectrum is rarely available in such large chunks, the auction represents one of the biggest opportunities for both large and small cell phone operators to fill out coverage areas.

"The stakes are high because (of) the opportunity for national carriers to acquire blocks of spectrum covering large sections of the country," analysts from Medley Global Advisors, an advisor to financial institutions and governments, wrote in a research note.

The radio spectrum to be auctioned is able to support advanced wireless data services, and as a result could be used to deliver high-speed Internet service into rural areas and densely packed cities that still lack broadband access. Carriers that win the right to license the airwaves also will use them to augment their voice services.

The auction could fetch an estimated $15 billion. A percentage of the proceeds would be used to relocate government agencies, such as the Department of Defense, that currently use the spectrum in their daily operations, according to Media Global Advisors.

[agentHibby]

I think it is weird how the FCC is going to do AWS

Block	Total MHz	      Pairings	                         Geographic Area

A	        20	1710-1720 and 2110-2120 MHz	Economic Area (EA)
B		20	1720-1730 and 2120-2130 MHz	Regional Economic Area Group (REAG)
C		10	1730-1735 and 2130-2135 MHz	REAG
D		10	1735-1740 and 2135-2140 MHz	Cellular Market Area (CMA)
E		30	1740-1755 and 2140-2155 MHz	REAG

There could be a F and G blocks as well but are only proposed.
These blocks have finalized by the FCC
You must do 1XRTT or faster speeds like EDGE or EV-DO or HSDPA on this band
If you get a D block license, Cellular rules for buildout apply except analog is optional

[danny boi]

Originally Posted by Fire14

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday formally approved an auction of a large swath of the radio spectrum crucial to cell phone and other wireless services.

There was little doubt the FCC would approve the auction. But the FCC had been facing pressure to rejigger the auction rules to allow participation of all types of cell phone operators, including rural operators. The rules for the auction adopted Thursday do just that, according to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.

Added FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy: "We want to make sure we have maximum flexibility and for smaller entities to come in and bid."

The commission's unanimous vote sets the stage for the largest radio-wave auction (about 90 megahertz of spectrum) for cell phone operators since 2000. Because spectrum is rarely available in such large chunks, the auction represents one of the biggest opportunities for both large and small cell phone operators to fill out coverage areas.

"The stakes are high because (of) the opportunity for national carriers to acquire blocks of spectrum covering large sections of the country," analysts from Medley Global Advisors, an advisor to financial institutions and governments, wrote in a research note.

The radio spectrum to be auctioned is able to support advanced wireless data services, and as a result could be used to deliver high-speed Internet service into rural areas and densely packed cities that still lack broadband access. Carriers that win the right to license the airwaves also will use them to augment their voice services.

The auction could fetch an estimated $15 billion. A percentage of the proceeds would be used to relocate government agencies, such as the Department of Defense, that currently use the spectrum in their daily operations, according to Media Global Advisors.

Nice find Fire! I've been waiting to hear about this.

[ShoresGuy]

Originally Posted by agentHibby

I think it is weird how the FCC is going to do AWS

Block	Total MHz	      Pairings	                         Geographic Area

A	        20	1710-1720 and 2110-2120 MHz	Economic Area (EA)
B		20	1720-1730 and 2120-2130 MHz	Regional Economic Area Group (REAG)
C		10	1730-1735 and 2130-2135 MHz	REAG
D		10	1735-1740 and 2135-2140 MHz	Cellular Market Area (CMA)
E		30	1740-1755 and 2140-2155 MHz	REAG

There could be a F and G blocks as well but are only proposed.
These blocks have finalized by the FCC
You must do 1XRTT or faster speeds like EDGE or EV-DO or HSDPA on this band
If you get a D block license, Cellular rules for buildout apply except analog is optional

Very cool, so it looks like Cingular can make use of the same bands for UMTS/HSDPA as the European and Asian UMTS networks at 2100 Mhz. Now all we have to do is to see whether this comes true or not.

[agentHibby]

the 3G band over in Europe and AWS are not compatible like DCS and PCS are.

[bobolito]

Originally Posted by agentHibby

the 3G band over in Europe and AWS are not compatible like DCS and PCS are.

Please spell out AWS for us. Many can confuse it with "AT&T Wireless Services."

[agentHibby]

sorry about that Bobo
AWS Advanced Wireless Services

I also goofed again as well.
I guess the FCC changed the band again.

Block                   Pairings	                                Geographic Area    Licenses
A		1710-1720 and 2110-2120		20 MHz		CMA		      734
B		1720-1730 and 2120-2130		20 MHz		EA		       176
C		1730-1735 and 2130-2135		10 MHz		EA		       176
D		1735-1740 and 2135-2140		10 MHz		REAG		      12
E	 	 1740-1745 and 2140-2145	10 MHz		REAG		      12
F		 1745-1755 and 2145-2155	20 MHz		REAG		      12

on a side note I put a REAG map down below to see 6 regions for the main 48 states.
So far it sounds like the FCC will action the whole 90 MHz at once.
We could now see a few providers other than Sprint having airwaves to cover the whole nation.
I do see some of the rural areas having some of the lower Tier II and Tier III providers getting some AWS A block licenses.
We might see a company or 2 try to build a network from the ground up, but I don't see that many for these reasons.
#1 After seeing what happen to NextWave, Fortunet Communications, UrbanComm, and the rest of PCS providers that failed to do anything once they won the auction.
#2 Also the high level of competition that it is not easy for Cricket and Metro PCS to compete sometimes
#3 Wireless in the US will be getting saturated by 2007. It will not be easy to lure many customers over to a new provider.
#4 More provider means more towers and more of possiblity of the rise of NIMBYs

[ShoresGuy]

Originally Posted by agentHibby

the 3G band over in Europe and AWS are not compatible like DCS and PCS are.

Ok so 1700 and 2100 Mhz will be used just for uplink/downlink connections and not for actual voice traffic?

[bobolito]

One thing that is not clear is, are these bands compatible with the European 2100Mhz UMTS band?

[agentHibby]

No they are not
Europe 3G is just 2100 MHz
AWS is (1700/2100 MHz)

Reason for this so FCC can have all devices be approved by them for usage. So anything that do 850 MHz Cellular or 1900 MHz PCS or 1700/2100 AWS the device must be approved by the FCC.
If it was compatible with the 3G band over in Europe then some devices from europe that were not approved by the FCC could be activated on a wireless network here in the US. This is what I understand.
There may be other reasons as well.

[agentHibby]

Originally Posted by ShoresGuy

Ok so 1700 and 2100 Mhz will be used just for uplink/downlink connections and not for actual voice traffic?

It is the actual airwaves a provider will receive in MHz. It is up to the provider if they want the channel to be voice, or data, or both.

PCS Parings
A Block 1850-1865 and 1930-1945
B Block 1870-1885 and 1950-1965
C Block 1895-1910 and 1975-1990
D Block 1865-1870 and 1945-1950
E Block 1885-1890 and 1965-1970
F Block 1890-1895 and 1970-1975
G Block 1895-1900 and 1990-1995 (this is Nextel's proposed NationWide license)

Cellular Parings
A Block 824.04-834.99 and 869.04-879.99
______845.01-846.48 and 890.01-891.48

B Block 835.02-844.98 and 880.02-889.98
______846.51-848.97 and 891.51-893.97

If SNSE is here he could tell you how it works.
I think lower numbers are phone to basestation and the upper numbers are basestation to phone.

[bobolito]

Here it is:

http://www.privateline.com/PCS/CellPCSchart.html

[ShoresGuy]

Originally Posted by bobolito

Here it is:

http://www.privateline.com/PCS/CellPCSchart.html

Thanks agenthibby and bobolito .