The United States 700 MHz FCC wireless spectrum auction, officially known as Auction 73,[1] was started by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on January 24, 2008 for the rights to operate the 700 MHz radio frequency band in the United States.
Much of the debate swirled around the open access requirements set down by the Second Report and Order released by the FCC determining the process and rules for the auction.
[2] Full-power TV stations were forced to transition to digital broadcasting in order to free 108 MHz of radio spectrum for newer wireless services.
The FCC ruled that the 700 MHz spectrum would no longer be necessary for TV because of the improved spectral efficiency of digital broadcasts.
A similar reallocation was employed in 1989 to expand analog cellphone service, having previously eliminated TV channels 70-83 at the uppermost UHF frequencies.
This created an unusual situation where old TV tuning equipment was able to listen to cellular phone calls, although such activity was made illegal and the FCC prohibited the sale of future devices with that capability.
Dish Network bought channel 56 (block E) licenses in the remainder of the nation's media markets, so far using it only for testing ATSC-M/H.
As of 2015[update], AT&T does not appear to be using block D or E (band class 29) yet, but plans to use link aggregation for increased download speeds and capacity.
[7] Secondly, prospective bidders had expressed interest in alternative packaging because some Internet service providers had different needs and the flexibility would benefit them.
[8] In an effort to encourage network neutrality, groups such as Public Knowledge, MoveOn.org, Media Access Project, along with individuals such as Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, and Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig appealed to the Federal Communications Commission to make the newly freed airways open access to the public.
[11] Google's upfront payment of $287 million in order to participate in the bidding process was largely recovered after the auction since it had not actually purchased any licences.
In retaliation, on September 13, 2007, Verizon filed a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission to remove the provisions Google had asked for.
Six years after the end of the auction of 700 MHz spectrum, block A remained largely unused, although T-Mobile USA began to deploy its extended-range LTE in 2015 on licenses purchased from Verizon Wireless and cleared of RF interference in several areas by TV stations changing off of channel 51.
After the March 2008 conclusion of Auction 73, Motorola initiated steps to have 3GPP establish a new industry standard (later designated as band class 17) that would be limited to the lower 700 MHz B and C blocks.
In proposing band class 17, Motorola cited the need to address concerns about high-power transmissions of TV stations still broadcasting on channel 51 and the lower-700 MHz D and E blocks.
As envisioned and ultimately adopted, the band class 17 standard allows LTE operations in only the lower-700 MHz B and C blocks using a specific signaling protocol that would filter out all other frequencies.
[34] As of April 2015, only three telecom providers were offering smartphones that use band 12: US Cellular, T-Mobile USA, and Nex-Tech Wireless.
It did this in exchange for the FCC allowing it to operate the block as a one-way service, effectively making it a broadcast, although it could still be interactive through other means.