Telecom Alert: 3.5 GHz SAS Administrators; House Approves Spectrum Innovation Act of 2022; Minimum Broadband Speeds Increase; ECF Funding [Vol. XIX, Issue 29]
FCC Approves SAS Administrators to Support 3.5 GHZ Band Leasing
Last week, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) and the Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) approved Spectrum Access System (SAS) administrators Amdocs Inc, (Amdocs), Federated Wireless, Inc. (Federated), Google, Key Bridge, and Sony, Corp. (Sony) to support spectrum manager leasing for Priority Access Licenses (PALs) in the 3.5 GHz band. SAS administrators must “(a) accept and store the information required in a licensee’s notification; (b) verify whether the lessee has made the required certification with the Commission; (c) verify that the lease will not result in the lessee holding more than the 40 megahertz of Priority Access spectrum in a given License Area, and that lessee operation will not extend beyond the licensee’s Service Area or within its PAL Protection Area; (d) inform the licensee as to whether the notification has been received and verified; and (e) provide the Commission with electronic reports of the leasing notifications it received on a daily basis.” Each SAS administrator was required to submit supplemental filings demonstrating the functionality of its leasing system and ability to interact with FCC systems before being approved. For more information, please contact Greg Kunkle (kunkle@khlaw.com; 202.434.4178).
House Energy and Commerce Committee Approves Spectrum Innovation Act of 2022
On July 13, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved the Spectrum Innovation Act of 2022 (Vol. XIX, Issue 25). The Act would authorize an auction of 200 MHz of spectrum in the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for non-federal and shared federal and non-federal use within seven years. If passed, the proceeds from the auction will be used to fund Next Generation 911 (“NG911”) grants and the Secure and Trusted Communications Network Reimbursement Program. For more information, please contact Wes Wright (wright@khlaw.com; 202.434.4239).
Minimum Broadband Speeds Increase Proposed
The FCC announced that Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a draft Notice of Inquiry that proposes increasing the national standard for minimum broadband speeds. The Notice proposes an increase in the standard to 100 megabits per second for download and 20 megabits per second for upload. The FCC previously set the broadband standard at 25/3 Mbps in 2015. The Notice also proposes to set a separate national goal of 1 Gbps/500 Mbps. For more information, please contact Jim Baller (baller@khlaw.com; 202.434.4175) or Sean Stokes (stokes@khlaw.com; 202.434.4344).
Over $266M in ECF Funding Committed
On July 13, the FCC announced that it is committing over $266 million in two new funding rounds of the Emergency Connectivity Fund (“ECF” or the “Program”) for applicants that filed in the program’s three filing windows. The first and second application windows commit $12 million to support 15 schools, 12 libraries, and 1 consortium. The third application window commits $254 million to support 400 schools, 45 libraries, and 15 consortia, bringing the total funding committed to date to nearly $5.6 billion. For more information, please contact Casey Lide (lide@khlaw.com; 202.434.4186).