WASHINGTON-The private radio industry is waiting this week to see if the long-awaited refarming plan, scheduled to be implemented Oct. 17, actually will go into effect as planned. At the 11th hour, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is continuing to sort out a consensus agreement on the definition of “public safety” along with compliance with certain amendments of the Budget Act that could affect how licenses will be allocated in the future.
WTB chief Dan Phythyon, speaking at last week’s Industrial Telecommunications Association annual meeting, stunned a luncheon audience by announcing the possibility of a stay of all or parts of the refarming order. The group had been scheduled to hear ITA President and CEO Mark Crosby speak later during the meeting on identifying refarming’s viable transition strategies. “I want to stay as few of the refarming issues as possible,” he said. “I want to resolve all petitions for reconsideration.” There are several basic issues that are intertwined, Phythyon said: several pending definitions of public safety, a new structure to license private spectrum and exclusivity.
In an interview following his speech, Phythyon told RCR, “I was just giving the industry a heads-up; I was acting like Paul Revere. There may or may not be a stay; we’ve made no conclusions on the bottom line or the process. A stay may not be required.” He said it may be necessary to “defer” the effective date of some portions of the ruling, “but we want to make it as narrow as possible.”
“This is not great news, but I had to say it as early as possible,” he added. “The more we get into how to implement the amendments in some way, the more we’re finding them harder to grapple with than we thought.” Phythyon said the bureau wasn’t even at the stage of being able to predict a worst-case scenario. “I know there is a lot of anxiety within the industry right now, but we know refarming can’t move forward until we address the amendment issues,” he said. “A lot of meetings will be held during the next week, and it’s the bureau’s highest priority. We may conclude that there is no impact and to move forward.”
Phythyon also mentioned that Congress had “stepped in and changed the rules of the game” following the commission’s adoption of refarming earlier this year. While he would not commit to the idea of auctioning private spectrum as a result, he did say, “Auctions are here to stay, like it or not. They will be our primary licensing tool. I hope the industry is as aware as we are of the budget amendments.”
If the bureau does decide on a stay because it can’t resolve the definitions contained in the current record, an order will be released prior to Oct. 17. A notice seeking additional information also may be released.
ITA’s Crosby, who was apprised of the possible stay just minutes before Phythyon’s speech, immediately swung into action, scheduling conferences with FCC commissioners Oct. 8. Because the refarming order was adopted at the commission level, it would take a commissioner vote to stay it. Following those meetings, he told RCR, “Bottom line, it would appear that the bureau’s initiative does not have the support of the Eighth Floor. Even so, the issue is not dead; it will continue to be hot.” Indeed, Rudy Baca, senior adviser to retiring Commissioner James Quello, told RCR, “It ain’t happening. He doesn’t have the votes.”
While Crosby acknowledged the potential for auctions, he doesn’t think that the new commissioners coming in will want to deal with that in the context of refarming.
