Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20554

In the Matter of

Alaska Communications Petition for Extension of WT Docket No. 18-353 License Term and Waiver of the October 17, 2020 CBRS Transition Deadline

Petition of Alaska Communications for Extension of License Term and Waiver of Commission Rules

Alaska Communications1 hereby requests an extension until December 31, 2020 of the term of its Wireless Broadband Service (“WBS”) license, WQKR607, and a corresponding short- term waiver of Sections 90.1307, 90.1311, 90.1338, and 96.21 of the Commission’s rules to allow additional time beyond the October 17, 2020 deadline to continue serving approximately

50 customers in remote areas of Alaska while it completes the transition to equipment compatible with the new Part 96 Citizens Broadband Radio Service (“CBRS”) rules.

Alaska Communications operates legacy WBS radios in the 3650-3700 MHz band in remote areas of Alaska, specifically at a handful of sites located on the Kenai Peninsula, east of

Fairbanks near North Pole, and on the North Slope near Deadhorse, Alaska. The Company requests this relief only to continue to operate those existing WBS radios until they are replaced, which will occur no later than the end of 2020. Alaska Communications has been working diligently to complete the transition. Nevertheless, the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,2 coupled with the short Alaska summer construction season, have slowed progress

1 In this Petition, “Alaska Communications” or the “Company” signifies ACS Wireless License Sub, LLC, the licensee of Call Sign WQKR607, and Alaska Communications Internet, LLC, which provides broadband communications services delivered using WBS equipment operated under that license. 2 See Donald J. Trump, “Proclamation on Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak” (Mar. 13, 2020), available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-declaring-national-emergency- concerning-novel-coronavirus-disease-covid-19-outbreak; Alex M. Azar II, Secretary, Health and Human Services, “Renewal of Determination that a Public Health Emergency Exists” (Oct. 7, 2020), available at: https://www.phe.gov/emergency/news/healthactions/phe/Pages/opioid-8Oct20.aspx. Alaska Communications Petition for Waiver WT Docket No. 18-353 October 9, 2020 and will prevent the Company from completing the deployment of replacement equipment before the current expiration of its legacy license.

Absent this waiver, Alaska Communications would be forced to terminate vital broadband Internet access service to approximately 50 customers that it serves using this legacy technology, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and despite the ongoing need for social distancing, telework, distance learning, and other emergency measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus,. Alaska Communications hereby requests this waiver in order to continue to meet its customers’ broadband needs using legacy WBS equipment until no later than December

31, 2020, while pursuing an orderly transition to the new CBRS standards.

Background

The state of Alaska has a population of about 730,000 people, only slightly greater than that of the District of Columbia, yet the state encompasses about 1/6 of the total land area of the nation, larger than 22 other states combined.3 Of these 730,000 people, nearly half live in the state’s three population centers of Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau.4 The others are clustered in small, rural and remote communities scattered across approximately 570,000 square miles of the rest of the state. As a result, rural and Bush areas of Alaska, including the high-cost census blocks that qualify for support under the terms of Alaska Communications’ CAF Phase II obligations, have by far the lowest population density in the nation.

3 See United States Census Bureau, State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates, available at: https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/2010/geo/state-area.html (visited Oct. 8, 2020) (showing the area of Alaska is greater than the combined area of North Carolina, New York, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Maine, South Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Hawaii, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island – and the District of Columbia). 4 See United States Census Bureau, Quick Facts: Anchorage Municipality, Fairbanks, Juneau, and State of Alaska, available at: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/juneaucityandboroughalaska,fairbankscityalaska,anchorag emunicipalityalaska,ak/PST045217 (visited Oct. 8, 2020).

2 Alaska Communications Petition for Waiver WT Docket No. 18-353 October 9, 2020

Affiliates of Alaska Communications serve as incumbent local exchange carriers

(“ILECs”), not only in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, and their surrounding rural areas, but also in approximately 50 Bush communities, which typically range in size from a few dozen to several hundred residents.5 Alaska Communications obtained its current 3650-3700 MHz license, WQKR607, in March 2017,6 as one of a variety of efforts to expand the availability of affordable broadband Internet access services to residents in these remote areas of Alaska.

Today, the 3.5 GHz band remains central to its plans to deliver broadband services in rural and remote Alaska. Under an award of Connect America Fund (“CAF”) Phase II support,

Alaska Communications is in the process of deploying facilities necessary to offer voice and qualifying broadband services to a minimum of 31,571 otherwise unserved customer locations in high-cost census blocks in rural and remote areas of the state.7 Alaska Communications was the

5 Alaska’s “Bush” communities are those that are isolated geographically from the infrastructure customarily available throughout most of the nation, including the areas in and around Alaska’s three largest population centers, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau. These Bush communities generally are inaccessible by road, and are not connected to the state’s power grid. People, as well as goods and services, must arrive by plane, barge, snow machine, all-terrain vehicle, or other off-road transportation means. Communications services in these communities generally rely on satellite or terrestrial point-to- point microwave transport links to Anchorage, Fairbanks, or Juneau. 6 See Public Notice, “Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Assignment of License Authorization Applications, Transfer of Control of Licensee Applications, De Facto Transfer Lease Applications and Spectrum Manager Lease Notifications, Designated Entity Reportable Eligibility Event Applications, and Designated Entity Annual Reports,” Rept. No. 12192 (Apr. 5, 2017), at 10 (File No. 0007705090). The Bureau granted Alaska Communications’ application to renew that license in August 2019 but, as required by Commission rules, only through April 17, 2020, see 47 C.F.R. § 90.1307(c); Amendment of the Commission’s Rules with Regard to Commercial Operations in the 3550-3650 MHz Band, GN Docket No. 12-354, Report and Order and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, FCC 15-47, 30 FCC Rcd 3959 (2015), at ¶ 400 (“CBRS Order”); Public Notice, “Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Site-By-Site Action,” Rept. No. 14288 (Aug. 14, 2019), at 26 (File No. 0008687593). In March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the nation, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (“Bureau”) granted a waiver of the Commission’s rules in order to “to specify a new deadline of October 17, 2020, for all licensees that would otherwise have had to transition [their] operations between April 17, 2020 and October 17, 2020,” see The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association and the Utilities Technology Council Request for Waiver of Sections 90.1307(c) and (d) and Sections 90.1338(a) and (b) of the Commission’s Rules, WT Docket No. 18-353, Order, DA 20- 291, 35 FCC Rcd 2750 (Wir. Tel. Bur 2020), at ¶ 1 (“CBRS Transition Extension Order”). 7 Connect America Fund, WC Docket No. 10-90, Order, FCC 16-143, 31 FCC Rcd 12086 (2016), at ¶ 1.

3 Alaska Communications Petition for Waiver WT Docket No. 18-353 October 9, 2020 winning bidder for 37 CBRS Priority Access Licenses (“PALs”) in Auction 105,8 and the

Company intends to meet a substantial part of its CAF Phase II obligations using CBRS services.

Discussion

The Commission may waive its rules for “good cause shown.”9 More specifically, the

Commission may exercise its discretion to waive a rule where special circumstances warrant a deviation from the general rule and such deviation would serve the public interest, or where the particular facts make strict compliance inconsistent with the public interest.10 In making this analysis, the Commission may take into account consideration of hardship, equity, or more effective implementation of overall policy on an individual basis.11 This request meets that standard.

A. Special Circumstances Justify This Waiver

The unique challenges of delivering broadband services in Alaska, compounded by the ongoing effects of the global coronavirus pandemic, create a compelling set of special circumstances to justify this waiver. In the CBRS Transition Extension Order, the Bureau recognized the “evolving and unpredictable nature of the pandemic, and its potential to cause delays for even diligent licensees that attempt to implement transition plans in the near term.” In the ensuing months, the pandemic has persisted, not abated, and has continued to create ongoing challenges for this transition.12

First, in rural and Bush Alaska, Alaska Communications faces a well-recognized array of unique challenges that make the costs of deploying, maintaining, or replacing broadband

8 Public Notice, “Auction of Priority Access Licenses in the 3550-3650 MHz Band Closes; Winning Bidders Announced for Auction 105,” DA 20-1009 (rel. Sept. 2, 2020), at Attachment A. 9 47 C.F.R. § 1.3. 10 Northeast Cellular Telephone Co. v. FCC, 897 F.2d 1164, 1166 (D.C. Cir. 1990); WAIT Radio v. FCC, 418 F.2d 1153, 1157, (D.C. Cir. 1969), affirmed by WAIT Radio v. FCC, 459 F.2d 1203 (D.C. Cir. 1972). 11 WAIT Radio, 418 F.2d at 1159; Northeast Cellular, 897 F.2d at 1166. 12 CBRS Transition Extension Order at ¶ 1.

4 Alaska Communications Petition for Waiver WT Docket No. 18-353 October 9, 2020 telecommunications facilities extremely high, even without the additional challenges of managing the COVID-19 pandemic. As the Commission has already recognized in considering broadband deployment policy, “Alaska faces uniquely challenging operating conditions, and . . . national solutions may require modification to serve the public interest in Alaska.”13 It is therefore

“important to ensure our approach is flexible enough to take into account the unique conditions in places like Alaska . . . , such as its remoteness, lack of roads, challenges and costs associated with transporting fuel, lack of scalability per community, satellite and backhaul availability, extreme weather conditions, challenging topography, and short construction season.”14

Construction of broadband infrastructure in Alaska may be reliably possible for as few as three to four months each year. Outside of that “construction season,” it is perilous at best, and only intermittently possible, to perform even routine deployment, maintenance, or repair tasks.

Travel is frequently slowed or interrupted by adverse weather conditions, further delaying and raising the cost and hazard of such activities. Maintenance and repair calls that could be accomplished in hours in the contiguous United States may consume days or weeks in Alaska, requiring travel by airplane, boat, barge, all-terrain vehicle, or snow machine to locations that are inaccessible by road, when weather permits access at all.

Although Alaska Communications intends to deploy its new Part 96 CBRS radios largely on existing towers, so that little new construction is necessary, Alaska Communications must first obtain a structural engineering analysis and certification that the proposed towers can handle the new loads. There are only a limited number of qualified engineering firms operating in

13 Connect America Fund, WC Docket No. 10-90, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, FCC 11-161, 26 FCC Rcd 17663 (2011) (“Transformation Order”), at ¶ 507. 14 Id. at ¶ 508. See also, id. at ¶ 101 (adopting special performance standards for areas with no terrestrial backhaul), ¶ 193 (recognizing that Alaska faces uniquely challenging operating conditions, and national solutions may require modification to serve the public interest in Alaska, including freezing support for price cap carriers in non-CONUS areas including Alaska, ¶ 481 (creating the Tribal Mobility Fund).

5 Alaska Communications Petition for Waiver WT Docket No. 18-353 October 9, 2020

Alaska that are able to provide the necessary certifications. During summer 2020, these firms were engaged on new tower construction projects elsewhere in the state, causing delays to

Alaska Communications in obtaining the necessary engineering work to support deployment. As the construction season draws to a close, it is only recently that Alaska Communications has been able to obtain the necessary engineering analysis and certifications in order to proceed.

Second, Alaska Communications has been unable to complete the CBRS transition as a result of the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic. As the Bureau previously recognized:

Many 3650-3700 MHz band licensees provide broadband, utility, and other essential wireless services to customers—including those in rural and underserved areas—who may be at risk of losing service during this state of national emergency if the transition deadline is not extended. Loss of such service could impair the public’s ability to engage in online education, telework, and other activities that will be instrumental in stemming the spread of the virus.15

Like so many of the nation’s businesses, Alaska Communications implemented social distancing measures designed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, and most of the company’s employees have been working from home since the early spring.

Even for those network technicians that remain in the field, traveling to the remote areas of Alaska where the legacy 3650 MHz radios operate has become increasingly more challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of its large size and limited road network, air travel is often the only practical means of reaching remote areas of the state. As pandemic-related concerns have reduced the availability of travel-related services across the country, and the risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus has persisted, deployment of facilities in far-flung areas of the state has become increasingly challenging.

15 CBRS Transition Extension Order at ¶ 9.

6 Alaska Communications Petition for Waiver WT Docket No. 18-353 October 9, 2020

Third, the CBRS transition requires not only replacement of base station radios, but also radio equipment deployed at customers’ homes. The ongoing pandemic has made customers understandably hesitant to authorize access to their homes, or even their property, by Alaska

Communications network technicians. While much of the work to replace the existing customer radios can be done without entering the customer premises, the potential for the work to cause a disruption of service or require adjustment or replacement of interior equipment or wiring is often enough to cause the customer to refuse access. Particularly because some customers may face specific age or health-related concerns over exposure to the virus, Alaska Communications strictly respects its customers’ choices to minimize nonessential exposure to other people, including the Company’s field technicians. As the Commission staff previously recognized in a similar context:

States and the federal government have implemented a number of measures, including social distancing, to limit person-to-person transmission of the coronavirus. At the same time, carriers are working hard to maintain and enhance their networks to ensure the ongoing availability of critical communications services – and to meet increased demand – while safeguarding the continued health and safety of their employees, including technicians who perform installation and other services at subscriber homes. In light of these unique circumstances, we find that requiring carrier technicians to enter subscriber homes to install equipment in order to meet our performance testing obligations is not in the public interest at this time. Carrier resources needed to meet increased demands for service should not be diverted to help subscribers that already have service but must install a new modem for performance measures testing.16

Similarly, carrier resources should not be diverted in this case, nor social distancing protocols compromised, to perform nonessential work that carries a risk of interrupting existing, vitally needed customer broadband services.

16 Connect America Fund, WC Docket No. 10-90, Order, DA 20-377, 35 FCC Rcd 2015 (Wir. Comp. Bur. 2020), at ¶ 4; see also Connect America Fund, WC Docket No. 10-90, Order, DA 20-748, 35 FCC Rcd 7086 (Wir. Comp. Bur. 2020), at ¶ 5 (“[T]he Commission has recognized that installing testing equipment in subscriber homes has been made more difficult by the COVID-19 pandemic”).

7 Alaska Communications Petition for Waiver WT Docket No. 18-353 October 9, 2020

B. A Waiver Would Serve the Public Interest

This waiver would also generate substantial public interest benefits. Alaska

Communications is currently using its existing radios in the 3650-3700 MHz band to provide broadband Internet access service to approximately 50 primarily residential customers. Without a waiver, it will be forced to turn off those radios, and terminate the associated service to the affected customers no later than October 17, 2020.

The current pandemic has revealed the full extent to which broadband service at home has become indispensable. Broadband connections have supported telemedicine, distance learning, and work-from-home arrangements, enabling millions of Americans to reduce their risk of exposure while continuing to work, pursue an education, and obtain necessary medical care.

Moreover, broadband connections have enabled rapid dissemination of public health messages, while preserving vital community connections throughout the nation. Alaska Communications believes that it would be a dereliction of its civic and societal responsibilities to take actions that place residential broadband service at risk of interruption while the pandemic is ongoing.

As a result, Alaska Communications has focused its efforts on maintaining service to its existing customers, as well as expanding service to new customers. Alaska Communications was an early adopter of the Chairman’s “Keep Americans Connected Pledge,” under which it promised that residential and small business customers would not lose service or incur late fees as a result of their inability to pay their bills due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.17 It has provided necessary equipment and increased bandwidth, often without

17 See FCC News Release, “Chairman Pai Launches the Keep Americans Connected Pledge,” available at: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-363033A1.pdf; see also FCC, “Companies Have Gone Above and Beyond the Call to Keep Americans Connected During Pandemic,” available at: https://www.fcc.gov/companies-have-gone-above-and-beyond-call-keep-americans-connected-during- pandemic (noting that Alaska Communications increased bandwidth for certain Rural Health Care program participants, offered free Internet service to all K-12 and university students who don’t

8 Alaska Communications Petition for Waiver WT Docket No. 18-353 October 9, 2020 charge, to schools and healthcare providers working to meet the unexpected challenges of the

COVID-19 pandemic. In order to maximize its efforts to connect as many Alaskans as possible, the Company has directed its resources accordingly. As a corollary, it has been reluctant to disrupt broadband service arrangements that are working successfully, including those using the legacy 3650 MHz facilities, in order to minimize the risk that their services could be interrupted.

Moreover, Alaska Communications is unaware of any entity other than itself that is planning to deploy CBRS service before the end of the year in Alaska. As a result, a grant of this waiver would not interfere with any other users of the band. Moreover, to the extent that any service provider may wish to use CBRS equipment in the area, there are ten available channels in the 3550-3650 MHz portion of the band. As indicated above, Alaska Communications was the high bidder for 37 priority access licenses in Auction 105. Long-form applications were due to the Commission on September 17, 2020 and remain pending with the Commission. As a result, it is unlikely that Alaska Communications will be in position to begin offering service under its

PALs before the end of the waiver period on December 31, 2020. Thus, the entire 3550-3650

MHz band is, and likely will remain, available for GAA use in the areas covered by the requested relief.

currently have Internet through the end of the school year, and offered one month of free Internet service to all new home Internet customers).

9 Alaska Communications Petition for Waiver WT Docket No. 18-353 October 9, 2020

Conclusion

For the foregoing reasons, Alaska Communications urges the Commission to grant the waiver requested herein to avert disruption of broadband Internet access service using the 3650-

3700 MHz band through December 31, 2020.

Respectfully submitted,

Leonard A. Steinberg Richard R. Cameron Senior Vice President & General Counsel CAMERON LAW & POLICY LLC ALASKA COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS GROUP, INC. 2550 M Street, N.W., Suite 343 600 Telephone Avenue Washington, D.C. 20037 Anchorage, Alaska 99503 (202) 230-4962 [email protected]

Karen Brinkmann KAREN BRINKMANN PLLC 1800 M Street, N.W., Suite 800-N Washington, D.C. 20036 (202) 365-0325 [email protected]

Counsel for Alaska Communications

10