NPSTC T-Band Contribution to Incentive Auction Educational Paper
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April 4, 2019 The T-Band Spectrum Contributed to the Incentive Auction Proceeds 1. Executive Summary NPSTC and public safety agencies who rely on the T-Band spectrum have provided clear documentation that relocation out of the public safety T-Band spectrum as required under Section 6103 of Public Law (P.L.) 112-96 would significantly disrupt mission critical public safety voice communications in key major urban areas. A significant number of industrial-business licensees interleaved in the T-Band spectrum would also suffer, even though they are not covered by Section 6103. The loss of auction revenue has been cited in discussions as a potential roadblock to adopting legislation to repeal Section 6103 of P.L. 112-96. However, the T-Band spectrum has been an essential element of the Federal Communications Commission’s 2016- 2017 Incentive Auction, and has already contributed significantly to the $19.8B in proceeds received by providing flexibility to the TV repacking process and reducing the number of TV stations that would otherwise have to be purchased outright. At the conclusion of repacking, the T-Band (470-512 MHz or TV channels 14-20) will support 453 full power and class A TV stations, 231 of which were relocated to the T-Band spectrum to accommodate TV repacking and the incentive auction process. In addition to disrupting public safety operations, failure to repeal Section 6103 of P.L. 112-96 would potentially undermine the TV repacking process and place these TV stations that are already moving at Congress’ and the Commission’s direction at risk. 2. Background On February 22, 2012, P.L. 112-96 was enacted to provide spectrum and funding for the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN) and implementation by the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), an overall positive outcome for public safety. The FirstNet broadband network is very beneficial for public safety video and data operations. However, Section 6103 of P.L. 112-96 requires the FCC to reallocate the public safety T-Band spectrum within the 470-512 MHz band and begin an auction of that spectrum by February 22, 2021, and clear public safety operations from the T-Band within 2 years of auction close. Section 6103 of P.L. 112-96 is of grave concern to public safety, which uses the spectrum to support voice communications (such as dispatch and on-scene tactical) operations of law enforcement, the fire services, and emergency medical services (EMS). The T-Band spectrum is allocated for public safety and industrial/business use within a 50-mile radius of the following metropolitan centers: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, San Francisco, and Washington D. C. Note that Section 6103 of P.L. 112-96 does not require that industrial/business users be relocated out of the band. 1 A comprehensive NPSTC T-Band report issued March 15, 2013 concluded there is insufficient spectrum in any public safety band to support relocation out of the T-Band. 1 The study also provided a relocation cost estimate for each T-Band area and concluded the cost of relocation in all eleven T-Band areas would be approximately $5.9B, even if spectrum were available. As shown in the report, the amount of spectrum within the T-Band used for public safety varies in each of these 11 areas. Also, most of the public safety T-Band spectrum is configured in slivers of bandwidth much too small to support broadband operation. A subsequent NPSTC T-Band Update Report dated May 31, 2016 reaffirmed the continued need for the T-Band spectrum and quantified the population in each of the eleven T-Band areas. 2 That update report also listed the full power and class A TV stations in the T-Band at that time, and noted business/industrial operations that also operate in the T-Band spectrum. 3. Analysis of Potential T-Band Auction • NPSTC and public safety agencies who rely on the T-Band spectrum have provided clear documentation that relocation out of the public safety T-Band spectrum as required under Section 6103 of P. L. 112-96 would significantly disrupt public safety mission critical voice communications in key major urban areas. Also, the language of Section 6103 is silent on the issue of relocating the business and industrial users of the T-Band spectrum interleaved with the public safety users. While NPSTC has not conducted an analysis of the business and industrial use of the spectrum, NPSTC believes the additional costs to relocate those users would be significant. The Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA) sponsored a study that estimated the cost just to repack industrial/business licensees within a dedicated portion of the T-Band would be $449.2M. 3 The cost of relocating industrial/business users out of the T-Band would be significantly greater because complete equipment replacement would be required, rather than simple retuning of existing equipment. • Potential auction revenue has been cited in discussions as a potential roadblock to adopting legislation to repeal Section 6103 of P.L. 112-96. However, to public safety’s knowledge, there was no scoring by the CBO on the potential revenue from a T-Band auction when the auction and relocation requirements were adopted. • Given the characteristics of the T-Band spectrum , i.e ., it is only available in eleven metropolitan areas and not nationwide, it is configured in disjointed slivers incompatible with broadband operation, and both industrial mobile and numerous television operations also occupy the same band, NPSTC is skeptical that a T-Band auction would generate any significant auction revenue. Thus, the public safety T-Band spectrum required to be auctioned under Section 6103 of P.L. 112-96 would not support commercial broadband operation, nor any nationwide deployment. 1 NPSTC T-Band Report released March 15, 2013, available at http://www.npstc.org/download.jsp?tableId=37&column=217&id=2678&file=T_Band_Report_20130315.pdf 2 NPSTC T-Band Update Report issued May 31, 2016 available at http://www.npstc.org/download.jsp?tableId=37&column=217&id=3696&file=T_Band_Update_Report_Final.pdf . 3 Industrial and Business T-Band Relocation Costs, prepared for EWA by Televate, LLC, June 11, 2013. 2 • In 2018, a major carrier issued a press release that advised “[t]he T-Band has limited commercial value for mobile broadband” and urged prompt action on a bill to repeal the T-Band auction requirement.4 • Accordingly, auction of the public safety T-Band spectrum is unlikely to yield enough funding to cover public safety relocation costs. Public safety relocation would then need to be funded by the taxpayers, not by auction revenue. • To the best of our knowledge, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has not provided any estimate of the budgetary impact of auctioning the T-Band spectrum, so removing the auction requirement is revenue neutral. Indeed, NPSTC notes that the T-Band spectrum has already indirectly contributed to the revenue attained in the Congressionally mandated television broadcast incentive auction. The incentive auction cleared spectrum in the 600 MHz band for commercial use. Neither that policy result nor the auction revenue from the incentive auction would have been possible without a TV repacking process, which relied in no small part on the availability of T-Band spectrum. • The results of the TV repacking show that the T-Band, i.e ., 470-512 MHz/TV channels 14-20, is an important element of the repacking process, which is underway and scheduled to be completed in July 2020. The FCC’s own data show that once the repacking process concludes, TV channels 14-20, i.e . the T-Band spectrum, will support 453 full power and class A TV stations. 5 Analysis of the post- auction channels and the pre-auction channels in this FCC data shows a net increase of 231 full power and class A TV stations placed in channels 14-20 as a result of repacking. Appendix A of this paper includes a list of the stations currently operating on, or being relocated to, TV channels 14-20 from the FCC data files. • The Incentive Auction yielded gross proceeds of $19.8B, revenue that would not have been possible without the flexibility to move TV stations into T-Band during the repacking process. • In summary, there is no public benefit to auctioning and clearing the public safety T-Band spectrum as required under Section 6103 of P.L. 112-96. To the contrary, such an auction/clearing process would cause major disruption to public safety communications and require taxpayers to fund relocation of public safety systems for which insufficient auction revenue would be raised, and for which there is no comparable spectrum alternative. Finally, the T-Band spectrum has already contributed to Federal revenue, given its deployment to support TV repacking for the incentive auction. In view of all the above, Congress must act to repeal Section 6103 of P.L. 112-96. 4 Verizon Statement on T-Band Act of 2018, April 27, 2018. 5 https://data.fcc.gov/download/incentive-auctions/Current_Transition_Files/ (as of February 25, 2019) 3 Appendix A – TV Channel 14-20 Results of FCC Repacking to Support Incentive Auction From FacID Call Sign To Ch Ch City or DMA State 35655 KTBY 20 20 ANCHORAGE AK 13813 KATN 18 18 FAIRBANKS AK 20015 KJNP-TV 20 20 NORTH POLE AK 71325 WDBB 14 18 Birmingham AL 24257 W47EI-D 16 47 Birmingham AL 16820 WABM 20 36 BIRMINGHAM AL 720 WIIQ 19 19 DEMOPOLIS AL 28119 WZDX 18 41 HUNTSVILLE AL 48693 WHNT-TV 19 19 HUNTSVILLE AL 591 WAFF 15 48 Huntsville-Decatur-Florence AL 57292 WAAY-TV 17 32 Huntsville-Decatur-Florence