FCC proposes new D-block auction format

As expected the FCC today voted to move forward with a plan to re-auction the 700 MHz public safety block, this time with many of its more stringent requirements eased. The commission, however, only put out a proposal that would allow for the nationwide D block to be split into 58 regional licenses and eased build-out requirements. It did not set a new date for the re-auction, calling instead for a lengthy period of public comment.

The D block was intended to be a public-private partnership allowing a carrier to build out a nationwide broadband network, which could be utilized by public safety agencies to communicate between one another in times of regional and national emergency. In essence, the plan was to provide the country with a national emergency communications system, yet get private industry to not only foot the bill but pay for its airwave rights to build it. The problems with that plan, however, became fully apparent at the 700 MHz auction last spring. The D block attracted but a single bid for $475 million, far below the $1 reserve price the FCC had set.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said while today’s note was only a “further notice” intended to reboot discussion of the matter in an effort to come up with an auction plan that will not only serve public safety community but attract interest from bidders. While proposals ranging from dropping the reserve price to dividing up the block into smaller licenses are being entertained, Martin cautioned that the heart of the plan—the partnership between public safety and private industry—has to be preserved.

“Let us be clear about what is at stake,” Martin said in his public comments after the hearing. “Without the partnership, there are no other viable tools for the Commission to ensure that this network can be built in a timely manner, with a maximum level of interoperability for use by all public safety entities small and large, rural and urban.”