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The US Week Ahead: FCC to vote on spectrum auction procedures

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The US Week Ahead: FCC to vote on spectrum auction procedures

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will hold an open meeting this week at which spectrum auction procedures will be discussed.

The Sept. 26 meeting includes a public notice that proposes procedures for a spectrum auction in the 3.5 GHz band, which the wireless industry now views as crucial for 5G deployment. The FCC has taken steps over the past several years to open the band up for wider commercial use.

Before 2015, the 3.5 GHz band was primarily used by fixed satellite services and federal agencies, such as the U.S. Defense Department. In 2015, the FCC sought to promote spectrum sharing between federal and nonfederal users in the band by establishing three tiers of users, some of which were nonrenewable and confined geographically to a single census tract for three or six years.

In 2018, in an effort to spur 5G investment and deployment in the band, the FCC voted to expand priority access licenses, a user tier in the 3.5 GHz band, to encompass entire counties. The order also extended the licensing terms to 10 years and added the option of making them renewable. These changes made the terms for 3.5 GHz spectrum more in line with traditional wireless licenses.

Mid-band spectrum is seen as important for 5G since high band cannot travel far distances or penetrate certain surfaces, and low-band spectrum has become crowded due to 4G wireless services.

Bidding in the planned 3.5 GHz auction is scheduled to begin on June 25, 2020.

Turning to Congress, a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary focused on antitrust will host a hearing Sept. 24, "Competition in Digital Technology Markets: Examining Acquisitions of Nascent or Potential Competitors by Digital Platforms."

Bruce Hoffman, director of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition, is listed among the scheduled witnesses.

Both the FTC and U.S. Justice Department have been engaged in scrutiny of large tech companies in 2019.

In July, Facebook Inc. disclosed that it was being investigated by the FTC for antitrust concerns, shortly after it agreed to pay a $5 billion fine to settle FTC-documented privacy violations. Additionally, the FTC has started interviewing sellers on Amazon.com Inc.'s platform as part of an investigation into the e-commerce giant's power over competition, Bloomberg News reported Sept. 11.

In July, the DOJ announced an antitrust review into "whether and how market-leading online platforms have achieved market power and are engaging in practices that have reduced competition, stifled innovation, or otherwise harmed consumers." A civil investigative demand from the DOJ has also been issued to Alphabet Inc.'s Google LLC requesting information and documents relating to the company's prior antitrust investigations in the U.S. and elsewhere.

While it is not clear exactly which tech acquisitions the subcommittee will be looking at this week, one member of the subcommittee, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tweeted Sept. 19 that in a meeting with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg he "challenged" him to sell WhatsApp Inc. and Instagram LLC, but Zuckerberg declined.

Government

Sept. 23-24 The U.S. Interior Department will host an event titled "National Tribal Broadband Summit."
Sept. 24 A subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary will host a hearing titled "Competition in Digital Technology Markets: Examining Acquisitions of Nascent or Potential Competitors by Digital Platforms."
Sept. 25

A subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations will host a hearing titled "Federal Trade Commission: Protecting Consumers and Fostering Competition in the 21st Century."

Sept. 26

The FCC will host its monthly open meeting.

Sept. 27

A subcommittee at the House Energy and Commerce Committee will host a hearing titled "Legislating to Secure America's Wireless Future."

Industry, legal and think tank events
Sept. 23-26

The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors will host its annual conference in Tampa, Fla.

Sept. 24

The Federal Communications Bar Association will host an event titled "Internet of Things Committee Brown Bag Lunch" in Washington, D.C.

Sept. 25 America's Communications Association will host a regional meeting with the National Cable Television Cooperative in Kansas City, Mo.

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