UPDATED: Martin details revised rules for D-Block auction

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin unveiled a new plan to auction valuable airwaves to foster interoperable public-safety/commercial communications around the country. The proposal takes nationwide and regional licensing approaches, and retains a public-private partnership approach and advances other reforms sought in the aftermath of the agency’s failed attempt to find a taker for the national first-responder/commercial D-Block license earlier this year.
Martin is pushing for an FCC vote on the revamped D-Block proposal at the agency’s Sept. 25 open meeting. The five-member, Republican-controlled commission would not be voting on the proposal itself, but would put it out for public comment on a fast-track basis. Martin said the FCC could adopt final rules by year’s end and hold the re-auction sometime between April and June. If revamped D-Block rules remain unsettled by next year – when a new administration takes over – there’s a possibility for more changes and more delay.
With the 700 MHz spectrum becoming available by mid-February after the digital TV transition is completed, Martin said time is of the essence.
“Trying to solve this public-safety interoperability problem should be a top priority for everyone at the commission,” Martin said. “And I think we need to make sure that we’re going to be able to do it and respond to this and move forward as absolutely quickly as we can.”
Among the changes in the D-Block overhaul is the elimination of a reserve price -as opposed to the $1.3 billion reserve price set for a national license during the original auction – in favor of minimum opening bids; relaxed and flexible buildout requirements; and greater transparency of the Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corp.
PSST, a nonprofit entity and the 700 MHz public-safety broadband licensee, was the subject of intense scrutiny by the FCC and Congress regarding its relationship with venture-capital-backed adviser, Cyren Call Communications Corp. Cyren Call was accused of contributing to the collapse of one-time D-Block candidate and now-defunct Frontline Wireless L.L.C. The FCC’s inspector general cleared Cyren Call of any wrongdoing after probing the matter.
However, the uproar over Cyren Call’s role and its dealings with the PSST, Frontline and others prompted Martin to seek reforms. The FCC chief wants to require that PSST’s meetings are open to the public; to cap at $5 million per year the amount D-Block licensees will pay the PSST to cover PSST’s operational and administrative expenses; and to not let a mobile virtual network operator manage the spectrum. First responders using the network would be billed a set fee of $48.50 per month to be paid to the D-Block licensee.
“We are pleased that Chairman Martin has circulated a draft . for consideration at an FCC meeting scheduled for Sept. 25,” said Harlin McEwen, chairman of the PSST. “Although the actual proposal is not a public document, in the chairman’s comments at a media briefing on Friday (Sept. 5), he said he is proposing an approach for a D-Block auction that would allow bids on a single national basis or on a regional basis, and we believe that is a good approach. I am also pleased that he has proposed that the Public Safety Spectrum Trust will remain the Public Safety Broadband Licensee. In regards to additional requirements proposed for the PSST such as holding open meetings, the Board of Directors of the PSST has formed a task group to address this issue and will be presenting a logistical proposal to the board in the near future.”
While Martin prefers a national approach because it would better ensure interoperability, the FCC chief’s plan includes licensing contingencies for 58 regional licenses as well as for a nationwide license. The regional licenses allow for LTE and WiMAX technologies.
The Martin D-Block blueprint would allow an override of a bidder meeting or exceeding the reserve price for the national licensee if all regional licenses are sold and the receipts total more than the winning bid for the national permit. If the $750 million reserve price for the national license is not met, but there are regional license bids covering more than half of the U.S. population, the minimum bid levels would drop in the remaining regions for that auction.
There is still support for state-level licensing, with U.S. Cellular Corp. aggressively advocating such an approach.
Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility, meanwhile, continue to lobby for a regional request-for-proposals licensing approach, though questions remain on the legality of doing so.
Satellite operators want to ensure that revamped D-Block guidelines keep intact a rule requiring that at least one satellite handset be available to public-safety users.
Martin said the revised plan would not limit bidding opportunities for mobile-phone carriers, including national operators AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc., which have extensive wireless infrastructure already deployed around the country.
“My policy priority is less about the impact on competition and more about the impact on making sure that local police and local fire departments are able to communicate during an emergency,” Martin stated. “And I think whatever we need to do make sure that that is buildout is what should be our priority.”
Separate from Martin’s D-Block public-safety efforts, the Department of Homeland Security has awarded nearly $3 billion in public-safety interoperability grants. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is overseeing a similar program with $968 million in funds for local and state first responders. In addition, Rivada Networks L.L.C, Motorola Inc., CoCo Communications Corp. and others are selling interoperability solutions.