License Renewal for Area-Licensed
Millimeter Wave Bands
WT Docket No. 10-112
Area Licensed mm Wave Bands Are Used for
Fixed Point-to-Point (FP2P) Services
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When the Commission first licensed the millimeter wave bands
(LMDS, and the 39 GHz and 24 GHz bands), it expected licensees
in these bands would offer point-to-multipoint (P2MP) services
The market and technologies for P2MP services in these bands
did not develop as the Commission anticipated
Rather than offer P2MP services, licensees in these bands are
offering FP2P services
Mobile Telephony/Broadband Service Providers
Offer Retail Services
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Mobile telephony/broadband services are retail services – a
single base station provides service to multiple consumers for
direct consumption. This differs from FP2P wide-area licensees.
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A mobile telephony/broadband service provider must build a base
station to begin offering service to a consumer
Service is provided once the consumer buys a phone or device and
agrees to take service
Current Safe Harbors for Retail P2MP Services
Do Not Require a Particular Take-Rate
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The Commission’s safe harbors are based on the offering of retail
service
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The Commission’s safe harbors reflect the mobile
telephony/broadband service retail model by requiring coverage of
particular percentages of geography or population
The Commission’s safe harbors do not require a particular number
of consumers to actually take the service offered, i.e., providers
must cover a particular area but need not achieve a specific
subscribership
FP2P Services in the Area Licensed mm Wave
Bands Are Not Offered at Retail
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Unlike mobile telephony/broadband services, FP2P services in
the area licensed mm wave bands are not offered at retail, i.e.,
they are not offered to consumers for direct consumption
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Unlike mobile telephony/broadband service providers, a FP2P
service provider need not construct its facilities to begin offering
service to mobile telephony/broadband service providers
FP2P service is offered when the FP2P service providers offers to
construct facilities on behalf of mobile telephony/broadband service
providers in the commercial and government agency sectors
FP2P service is provided when the offered facilities are constructed
pursuant to the request of a mobile telephony/broadband service
provider
Current Safe Harbors for FP2P Services
Effectively Require a Particular Take-Rate
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The Commission’s population-based coverage requirement for
FP2P offerings in the area licensed mm wave bands – 4 fixed
point-to-point links per 1 million population – is typically met
only when telephony/broadband service providers take service at
the specified level
The Take-Rate Approach to FP2P Safe Harbors
Does Not Promote Service
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If mobile telephony/broadband service providers do not request
the construction of 4 links per 1 million population, an area
licensed FP2P service provider’s options are to relinquish its
spectrum or build links to nowhere
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Relinquishing the license would result in delay during the relicensing process
with no assurance that take rates for the new licensee’s service would be any
better
Building links to nowhere would not promote the Commission’s policy
interest, which is to ensure that the spectrum is being put to its highest and
best use. Instead, building links to nowhere drains precious capital that
could have been used to build or develop needed services.
The Take Rate Approach to FP2P Safe Harbors
Causes Investor Uncertainty
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The offer-based safe harbors applicable to retail mobile
telephony/broadband services provide investors with certainty
that access to spectrum (a business prerequisite) will be
preserved with a given amount of investment, irrespective of
actual consumer take rates
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The market, i.e., consumer take rates, determine whether the business is
ultimately profitable
The take-rate approach applicable to FP2P services provides
investors with no certainty that a prerequisite to recouping their
investment – a spectrum license – will be preserved
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To meet the FP2P safe harbor, the business must be more than merely
profitable – it must meet the Commission’s predefined level of business
success or forfeit the entire enterprise
All Area-Licensed mm Wave Band Licensees
Need Access to an Offer-Based Safe Harbor
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There are two categories of FP2P licensees:
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Wholesale FP2P service providers (carrier’s carriers) who offering FP2P
services to commercial or government fixed and mobile
telephony/broadband service providers; and
Fixed and mobile telephony/broadband service providers who use FP2P
transport in the area licensed mm wave bands to support their internal
network transport requirements
A lack of customer demand for FP2P service – whether external
or internal – should not preclude license renewal
Both wholesale FP2P service providers and licensees using the
mm wave bands to support their internal network transport
requirements should have access to an offer-based safe harbor
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The licensee is not providing a retail service in either case
The Safe Harbor
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An offer-based safe harbor would require only that an area-wide
mm wave band licensee offer FP2P service or spectrum leases on
commercially reasonable terms and conditions to commercial or
government fixed or mobile telephony/broadband service
providers or to the licensee’s internal network planners
Commercially Reasonable Terms and Conditions
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There is sufficient evidence that a FP2P provider is offering
service on commercially reasonable terms and conditions if:
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For a wholesale FP2P provider, the licensee certifies that it is:
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For a licensee using FP2P to support their internal network transport
requirements, the licensee certifies that:
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Continuously marketing its services and/or leasing opportunities; and
At least one customer has taken the service offered or leased spectrum in at least
one license area
Its network planners continuously consider in good faith FP2P transport during its
internal provisioning process; and
It has internally provisioned at least one FP2P transport link in at least one of its
license areas
For licensees that use the wide-area licensed spectrum for both internal
network transport and to offer wholesale FP2P, the licensee certifies
that it is meeting either or both the requirements listed above
Thank you
Fred Campbell, ceo