EuroWire November 2016

Transatlantic cable

The reverse and forward auctions would be integrated in a series of rounds, each consisting of a reverse-auction and a forward-auction bidding process, with additional stages to be run if necessary. “Well, [that is] now proven necessary,” wrote Mr Daniels. “But not for the reasons the FCC had hoped.” (“US Wireless Operators Only Interested in New Spectrum if the Price Is Right [and It’s Not],” 1 st September) The FCC announced that the incentive auction had closed, after 27 rounds, without meeting the conditions necessary to extend to a further round. The agency, left with no choice but to restart the entire process, announced Stage 2 with bidding to begin 13 th September. This would not be a new round of forward bids but a process ab initio – with a new reverse auction for broadcasters, followed by another series of forward bidding rounds for wireless operators. (Mr Daniels did say it was complex.) To avoid a repetition of the failed rst stage, the FCC set a lower target of 114MHz for Stage 2 (actually 90MHz of re-usable spectrum plus guard bands, compared with a 126MHz total in Stage 1). With less spectrum on o er – nine blocks of paired spectrum instead of ten – it was hoped that the relative scarcity would push up bids from the wireless operators. “The TV industry also believes that this second stage means that its broadcast members will receive less money for their relinquished spectrum,” wrote Mr Daniels on 1 st September. “Spotting the winners here is nigh on impossible.” What do the experts say? “NAB is surprised by the modest participation by wireless carriers in the rst stage of the TV auction,” said National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton. “Perhaps the notion of a ‘spectrum crisis’ peddled in Washington for the last seven years is not as acute as policymakers were led to believe. We look forward to the second round of the auction where wireless carriers will be a orded another bidding opportunity.” To Dan Hays, principal of the strategy and consulting group at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the outcome of the auction was unsurprising if disappointing to some. “The results demonstrate just how much pressure the mobile industry continues to face to limit its capital spending,” he told TelecomTV . “The ball is now back in the court of TV broadcasters, who will need to decide whether to accept lower prices for their spectrum or bet on future opportunities to cash in on their airwaves.” Berge Ayvazian, senior analyst at Wireless 20/20 , suggested to Dan Meyer of rcrwireless.com that it would take some extraordinary diplomacy on behalf of the FCC to bridge the gap between what it appears mobile telecom operators are willing to spend and what it appears TV broadcasters want for their spectrum holdings. Mr Ayvazian also noted that telecom operators “might not be as gung-ho for low-band spectrum” in light of the future focus of 5G services on higher-band spectrum to support increased capacity needs – not broader coverage. † Those monitoring the FCC auction could expect four weeks of reverse bidding followed by two weeks of forward bidding. By November, they should know if the second stage will be any more successful than the rst. Dorothy Fabian – USA Editor

According to Bloomberg , the proposal under consideration is that Massachusetts join the Atlantic Time Zone, covering eastern Canada, the Caribbean and parts of South America. No longer observing Daylight Saving Time (DST), residents would thus avoid the pesky chore of re-setting their clocks in spring and summer. From November to March, the sun would set an hour later than it does now. (“Massachusetts Could Swap Time Zones for Later Winter Sunsets,” 29 th August) The sun would rise an hour later too, of course. But, wrote Mr Moroney and Ms Mostue, “The thinking is that darkness in the morning is less depressing than darkness at the end of the day.” Whether this might be enough to keep college graduates from eeing Massachusetts should be clearer next year. As part of an economic development measure a legislative commission was established by Gov Baker to probe the matter. The commissioners must report their ndings by July. † The Bloomberg reporters provided some incidental information on Daylight Saving Time, customarily traced to a 1784 essay by Benjamin Franklin. To conserve on fuel by reducing evening use of lighting, Germany in 1916 became the rst country to adopt DST. The USA temporarily adopted it two years later, and most states later made it mandatory. Today, only Hawaii and most of Arizona – perhaps to be joined by Massachusetts – do not observe DST. An American auction for the reallocation of UHF spectrum pits TV broadcasters against telecoms, producing no winner “So what happened to the spectrum crisis?” The question, posed by Guy Daniels of TelecomTV , is a legitimate one. For some time it had been generally understood that wireless operators in the USA, feeling themselves to be dangerously short of bandwidth, would give much for an additional slice of that critical asset. On 30 th August, the abrupt halt of the rst stage of the Federal Communications Commission’s 600MHz incentive auction proved otherwise. Forward bidding topped out at just $23 billion, below the level needed to continue the proceedings and well short of the $88bn target set by the FCC. Mr Daniels, who in earlier coverage foresaw di culties with “the world’s most complex and mind-numbing spectrum auction,” was ready with an explanation. In his view this was a complicated a air that pitted TV broadcasters against wireless operators. The broadcaster-bidders had to voluntarily relinquish UHF spectrum rights in exchange for a portion of the proceeds from the forward auction: at which point the mobile broadband providers were expected to make their bids in the reverse auction for the released UHF spectrum, in the mobile-friendly 600MHz band. The process involved “repacking” channels to the remaining broadcast television stations to create contiguous blocks of cleared spectrum suitable for exible use. Telecom

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November 2016