600 MHz auction results posted and transition schedule

[ericdabbs]

EDIT 4/19/2017:

RabbitEars link for the 600 MHz Phase transitions by market.  Select each phase number to turn determine which phase number is your market which can be in multiple phases.  

 

For example:  Los Angeles market area is broken up into Phase 2 and Phase 3.  San Francisco market area is broken up into Phase 8 and Phase 9.

 

Ensure the pulldown selection is set to Map for Phase on Channel 38-51 for Phase X (where X is which phase you are currently looking at)

https://www.rabbitears.info/phasemap.php?maptype=s&channel=52&phase=1

 

FCC link to the FCC 600 MHz transition schedule timelines by Phase

https://www.fcc.gov/about-fcc/fcc-initiatives/incentive-auctions/transition-schedule

 

 

EDIT 4/13/2017:

Spectrum Gateway summarized the Tmobile 600 MHz holdings with this map

http://maps.spectrumgateway.com/t-mobile-600-mhz.html

 

FCC website if you want to look up which specific blocks your market received.  Turn on Search and search by Market Name.

https://auctiondata.fcc.gov/public/projects/1000/reports/assignment-results_by_license

 

 

EDIT 3/6/2017:

Looks like Tmobile is not wasting any time trying to get the 3GPP to approve a LTE band class for the 600 MHz spectrum.  The proposed B71 is in the works with the following Sponsoring members: T-Mobile USA, Ericsson, Intel, Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung, US Cellular, Skyworks Solutions, Deutsche Telekom, C-Spire, LG with the plan to support 5, 10, 15 and 20 MHz bandwidths.

 

Surprise surprise that AT&T and Verizon are not present.  Lets hope the spec can be finalized by September 2017 and OEM equipment to be out by early 2018. 

 

https://www.reddit.c...ifications_for/

 

 

600 MHz Work Item Description (See Section 4 Objective)

https://docs.google....DJhNDQ0ZGNkOGM4

[EvanA]

Hurts T-Mobile more than Sprint.

[S4GRU]

FCC decides to delay 600 MHz incentive auction until 2016.  Another blowback to Sprint and Tmobile which desperately need low band spectrum now for LTE deployment.

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/fcc-delays-start-600-mhz-incentive-auction-early-2016/2014-10-24

 

We keep saying it will be delayed and delayed.  It's not coming soon.  That's why Sprint is progressing with 800MHz nationwide ASAP and fighting back on rebanding delays and T-Mobile is buying up 700-A as much as possible.  At least Sprint is nationwide with its low frequency spectrum.

 

Anyone holding out hope for 600MHz should not hold their breath.  It is not anywhere near imminent.

[Yuhfhrh]

At least Sprint is nationwide with its low frequency spectrum.

 

Unfortunately this is delayed too. 

[clbowens]

FCC decides to delay 600 MHz incentive auction until 2016.  Another blowback to Sprint and Tmobile which desperately need low band spectrum now for LTE deployment.

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/fcc-delays-start-600-mhz-incentive-auction-early-2016/2014-10-24

I'm not surprised at all.

[ericdabbs]

Unfortunately this is delayed too. 

 

Agreed.  Way too many places that still can't deploy B26 LTE at this point.  At least Sprint is trying to squash the squatters but unfortunately the FCC is still too lenient on these public service groups and grant extensions who have did not abide by their initial deadlines.  Hopefully Sprint can also work to kick those squatters so that they can end up deploying a 5x5 LTE carrier at 800 MHz nationwide instead of just a 3x3 LTE carrier which frankly isn't going to do much. 

[Yuhfhrh]

...instead of just a 3x3 LTE carrier which frankly isn't going to do much. 

 

3x3 will still do wonders for VoLTE!

[bigsnake49]

Agreed.  Way too many places that still can't deploy B26 LTE at this point.  At least Sprint is trying to squash the squatters but unfortunately the FCC is still too lenient on these public service groups and grant extensions who have did not abide by their initial deadlines.  Hopefully Sprint can also work to kick those squatters so that they can end up deploying a 5x5 LTE carrier at 800 MHz nationwide instead of just a 3x3 LTE carrier which frankly isn't going to do much. 

 

The squatters have nothing to do with a 3x3MHZ SMR block. if Sprint could buy both the expansion and the guard band they would have 9x9MHz everywhere except in Solinc's territory.

 

Sprint has couple of problems on having full 7x7MHz nationwide: IBEZ and public safety. Public safety has gotten away with interminable delays for 10 years now. The IBEZ problem will be solved quicker than the PS  rebanding problem.

Edited October 24, 2014 by bigsnake49

[Hurrcayne_dre]

Nab wants it both ways

[digiblur]

OTA'ers rejoice! Yay! Or as others call it. cordcutters.

[WiWavelength]

Here is my four word comment:  I told you so.

 

AJ

[Conan Kudo]

I still don't like the idea of the 600MHz auction to begin with... We should be taking a hard look at how our existing <1GHz spectrum is allocated first...

[JThorson]

I can still see Verizon and AT&T buying up a huge portion of this.

[JeffDTD]

Sound like no one should look forward to actually , possibly, using 600mhz until late 2017/ 2018, if ever. And even then, dreaming about it spurring a rural buildout is years and years from there. Who knows what the industry will look like then.

 

Sent from my XT1096 using Tapatalk

[Trip]

Even if the timeline doesn't slip any more, I wouldn't expect 600 MHz to become available until 2020.  Suppose auction applications are accepted in January 2016.  If the auction itself is completed by June 2016, there's still a 39-month build-out period for the TV side of things, which means the spectrum isn't actually available for construction until September 2019.  And that assumes, of course, that enough broadcasters jump in to make the auction work at all, and leaves aside the possibility of any other delays.

 

I do agree with Conan Kudo that the 850 MHz band should be worked on.  Currently, there are two cellular licenses in that band, each having 12.5 MHz, but those licenses are not contiguous, which means some of the spectrum will probably be wasted.  If the band was to be tweaked into 5 MHz block pairs once the 2G/3G sunset arrives, giving each incumbent two of the five, you could auction the fifth block pair.  Similarly, the 700 MHz band uses 6 MHz block pairs when 5 MHz would be more appropriate.  There is enough wasted space there that if you shifted everyone slightly, you could extract at least one more 5 MHz block pair out of the band.

 

- Trip

[Destroyallcubes]

Somedays I wish ATT and Verizon would be forced to seel its 850mhz spectrum in areas it has pcs and 700mhz (aws as well) make them pursue Volte devices, and rollout Volte faster. Both sprint and Tmobile could use 5x5mhz chunk of low band nationwide.

[mozamcrew]

Even if the timeline doesn't slip any more, I wouldn't expect 600 MHz to become available until 2020.  Suppose auction applications are accepted in January 2016.  If the auction itself is completed by June 2016, there's still a 39-month build-out period for the TV side of things, which means the spectrum isn't actually available for construction until September 2019.  And that assumes, of course, that enough broadcasters jump in to make the auction work at all, and leaves aside the possibility of any other delays.

 

I do agree with Conan Kudo that the 850 MHz band should be worked on.  Currently, there are two cellular licenses in that band, each having 12.5 MHz, but those licenses are not contiguous, which means some of the spectrum will probably be wasted.  If the band was to be tweaked into 5 MHz block pairs once the 2G/3G sunset arrives, giving each incumbent two of the five, you could auction the fifth block pair.  Similarly, the 700 MHz band uses 6 MHz block pairs when 5 MHz would be more appropriate.  There is enough wasted space there that if you shifted everyone slightly, you could extract at least one more 5 MHz block pair out of the band.

 

- Trip

Not a fan of redoing the 700Mhz band, but the 850Mhz band change looks like a great idea to me.

[WiWavelength]

I do agree with Conan Kudo that the 850 MHz band should be worked on.  Currently, there are two cellular licenses in that band, each having 12.5 MHz, but those licenses are not contiguous, which means some of the spectrum will probably be wasted.  If the band was to be tweaked into 5 MHz block pairs once the 2G/3G sunset arrives, giving each incumbent two of the five, you could auction the fifth block pair.

 

I am pleased to hear that at least one person at the FCC is thinking along the same lines.  Neal (Conan Kudo) and I have been bandying about and working on the idea of a Cellular 850 MHz band reconfiguration proposal for over a year.  Any such reconfiguration would eliminate the pesky A low, A high, and B high segments that the FCC used to expand the band many years ago.  Those extensions made sense in the AMPS era, but they lost much of their utility even by the cdmaOne/CDMA2000 era.

 

 

AJ

[WiWavelength]

Not a fan of redoing the 700Mhz band...

 

Why?  Trip is referring to the Lower 700 MHz band, and it would be a relatively easy reconfiguration.

 

The current 6 MHz FDD/TDD blocks simply followed the UHF TV channelization.  But that is pointless in an LTE world that has 5 MHz FDD/TDD as its closest match, leaving 1 MHz fallow per block.  If each Lower 700 MHz A/B/C block were sensibly reduced to 5 MHz FDD/TDD and shifted, then a new AA, BB, or CC block could be added.  It would be 3 MHz FDD, which would match a current LTE configuration, and it would remain in band 12.  I would advocate the BB block in between the A and B blocks.

 

AJ

[cdk]

While we are dreaming of the FCC fixing the 700 and 850 bands, can we also dream that they'll move Public Safety out of the 700 & 800 bands as well?

[caspar347]

Why?  Trip is referring to the Lower 700 MHz band, and it would be a relatively easy reconfiguration.

 

The current 6 MHz FDD/TDD blocks simply followed the UHF TV channelization.  But that is pointless in an LTE world that has 5 MHz FDD/TDD as its closest match, leaving 1 MHz fallow per block.  If each Lower 700 MHz A/B/C block were sensibly reduced to 5 MHz FDD/TDD and shifted, then a new AA, BB, or CC block could be added.  It would be 3 MHz FDD, which would match a current LTE configuration, and it would remain in band 12.  I would advocate the BB block in between the A and B blocks.

 

AJ

I've always wondered why the 700 bands were 6 mhz wide. I assumed it was some sort of guard space or something. Is it really just unused spectrum? That's a perfect 5x5 counting A, B, lower C, D/E and upper C.

 

Of course I assume it would be a bit difficult to shift D/E and upper C.

[WiWavelength]

I've always wondered why the 700 bands were 6 mhz wide. I assumed it was some sort of guard space or something. Is it really just unused spectrum?

Yes, the current band plan results in vacant spectrum.  A 5 MHz FDD carrier occupies effectively 4.5 MHz FDD, while a 10 MHz FDD carrier occupies effectively 9 MHz FDD.  For a 6 MHz FDD block or an adjacent pair of 6 MHz FDD blocks, that leaves at least 1 MHz wasted per block.

 

That's a perfect 5x5 counting A, B, lower C, D/E and upper C.

I am not sure that I follow.  This reconfiguration would involve only Lower 700 MHz, not Upper 700 MHz.  Any Upper 700 MHz reconfiguration would have to be separate, as that band uses an inverted duplex.

 

AJ

[caspar347]

I am not sure that I follow.  This reconfiguration would involve only Lower 700 MHz, not Upper 700 MHz.  Any Upper 700 MHz reconfiguration would have to be separate, as that band uses an inverted duplex.

 

AJ

I meant that if you were to go to the trouble of essentially shrinking every 700 block down and shifting them so that the existing blocks occupied, for example, 708-787 including all uplink and downlink blocks, you could have a full 5x5 in, for example, 698-708. From what I've seen, there's a total of 10mhz of unused spectrum in all of 700.

 

But as you pointed out moving upper C/D/E wouldn't really work out. So as you said, we're stuck with a 3x3 from lower A/B/C and some leftovers in upper C/D/E that are too much hassle to move around.

 

Oh, and I'm still learning, so please correct me if I'm wrong on any of this.

[mozamcrew]

 

 

Why? Trip is referring to the Lower 700 MHz band, and it would be a relatively easy reconfiguration.

The current 6 MHz FDD/TDD blocks simply followed the UHF TV channelization. But that is pointless in an LTE world that has 5 MHz FDD/TDD as its closest match, leaving 1 MHz fallow per block. If each Lower 700 MHz A/B/C block were sensibly reduced to 5 MHz FDD/TDD and shifted, then a new AA, BB, or CC block could be added. It would be 3 MHz FDD, which would match a current LTE configuration, and it would remain in band 12. I would advocate the BB block in between the A and B blocks.
AJ

I'm not against redoing 700Mhz, but between the two, there is much more to gain from reworking the 850Mhz licenses (5x5) than from 700Mhz (3x3). Also, you can use the relicensing of 850Mhz to address markets where one provider holds both sides of the license. Incumbent providers of the A or B license would each recieve neighboring 5x5 blocks (10x10) in the new arrangement, leaving a new 5x5 block to be auctioned off. In markets where the incumbent holds both sides of the license, they would be given a third block, so they would have 15x15, thus freeing up two 5x5 blocks for other carriers. Also, no company would be allowed to acquire more than 30Mhz of cell 850 spectrum from this point forward.

 

We just got 700Mhz deployed. Let's wait until VoLTE is mature and then we can go back and create this 3x3 channel in 700Mhz.

 

[Trip]

My question would be "how hard is it to actually retune the gear?"  I'm assuming the 850 MHz gear will need to be replaced when 2G/3G is sunset in that band anyway, but is most of the 700 MHz gear the type that could theoretically get a software update and then be easily shifted by a few MHz?

 

And I'm wondering if with some creative shifting in 700 MHz, you couldn't squeeze a 5x5 out of it.  Recall that Verizon is sitting on 11 MHz wide channels as well, and there's D and E block each on 6 MHz.  That means you've got a total of 10 MHz sitting there with nothing going on, just scattered throughout 700 MHz.

 

- Trip