Verizon asks FCC not to ‘gift’ 4.9 GHz spectrum to AT&T via FirstNet Authority

Verizon this week again asked the FCC not to grant the FirstNet Authority—and its nationwide contractor AT&T—control of the 4.9 GHz band historically dedicated to public safety, but it also asked that rules mandate a competitive process be implemented, if a nationwide license is granted.

In yesterday’s ex parte filing with the FCC, Verizon emphasized that it believes the FCC should approve rules that are designed to increase usage of the 4.9 GHz band “while maintaining local control for public-safety users,” as recommended by the Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI). However, Verizon also provided input about how the FCC should proceed, if it grants control of the 50 MHz of 4.9 GHz band to the FirstNet Authority in the manner proposed by the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA).

Throughout its letter to the FCC, Verizon expressed concern that a 4.9 GHz spectrum license for the FirstNet Authority would effectively allow AT&T—the nationwide FirstNet contractor and Verizon rival—to utilize the airwaves to support its commercial efforts, as it does with 700 MHz Band 14 airwaves. Instead, the FCC should ensure that the 4.9 GHz spectrum is subject to competition.

“If the Commission embraces PSSA’s proposal to make the 4.9 GHz band available for public safety and commercial wireless use … then it must consider a lawful way to assign this spectrum through an appropriate competitive process (e.g., auction, bidding process, etc.) rather than gifting the spectrum to one commercial provider,” the Verizon filing states.

“Were there an auction, Verizon would support proceeds going to public safety priorities, such as funding NG911 [next-generation 911].”

Without such a competitive process, granting control of the 4.9 GHz spectrum to the FirstNet Authority—and, presumably, AT&T—would disrupt the public-safety-broadband and commercial-wireless landscape, according to the Verizon filing.

Like AT&T’s FirstNet service, Verizon Frontline provides first responders with access to all of Verizon’s commercial spectrum bands, and, like AT&T’s FirstNet service, Verizon Frontline provides first-responder customers with priority and preemption,” the Verizon letter states. “Other wireless providers compete every day in the first responder service marketplace. There is no reason to gift valuable mid-band spectrum to one competitor over others.

“The impact of a spectrum giveaway on the commercial-wireless marketplace would be similarly dramatic, particularly at a time when the Commission and other policymakers are working to replenish the empty pipeline for mid-band spectrum. Providing AT&T with access to an additional 50 megahertz of mid-band spectrum that would largely be put to use for commercial customers would result in a substantial windfall.”

Proponents of the PSSA proposal have stated verbally—including during a session about 4.9 GHz at IWCE 2024—that the precedent of the 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum is an indication that they believe the FirstNet Authority would conduct a procurement or some other competitive process if provided a license to the band. However, this notion has not been addressed in PSSA written proposals, which have acknowledged that the FirstNet Authority would follow any rules approved by the FCC.

When CERCI was created last fall, CERCI Chair Kenneth Corey—retired chief of the New York Police Department (NYPD)—said the new organization would oppose an open bid for the 4.9 GHz spectrum, even if a member like Verizon or T-Mobile won the competitive process. CERCI has been outspoken in its opposition to the PSSA proposal and advocacy for local public-safety entities continuing to determine usage of the 4.9 GHz band.

“Preserving that local control is the key element,” Corey said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “It’s not as if [it would be OK] if they turned it over to Verizon or T-Mobile; none of those would be acceptable, either. The local license holders have to have local control, precisely because the country is very diverse and the use cases are going to be very diverse.

“They have to be able to use it in the way that suits their needs and to allow those critical-infrastructure groups into it, where they can deconflict.”

Verizon’s letter to the FCC regarding recent meetings with staff members of FCC commissioners stressed that the carrier’s recommendations continue to align with CERCI, noting that it prefers that the local jurisdictions control usage of the 4.9 GHz band, as opposed to a nationwide license to the FirstNet Authority. Verizon’s competitive-process recommendation is only relevant, if the FCC decides to grant a 4.9 GHz license to the First Authority.

Verizon’s filing also reiterates the CERCI position that the FCC does not have the legal authority to grant a nationwide 4.9 GHz license to the FirstNet Authority—directly or indirectly—absent a directive from Congress. PSSA has disputed those legal claims.

Verizon’s ex parte letter notes that the U.S. Department of Commerce Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has issued three reports in the last month “identifying new significant compliance issues and oversight concerns” with FirstNet.

In addition, the Verizon letter to the FCC questions whether there is any practical public-safety need for the 50 MHz of 4.9 GHz spectrum to be assigned to the FirstNet Authority.

“Nothing in the record documents that FirstNet lacks access to sufficient spectrum to meet its statutory role,” according to the Verizon filing. “FirstNet has never explained the breakdown of AT&T’s use of Band 14, nor the percentage of Band 14 traffic that is AT&T public safety (i.e., FirstNet) versus AT&T commercial. And, because AT&T provides its FirstNet customers with priority access to Band 14 and to all of AT&T’s commercial bands, it is unclear why AT&T’s FirstNet customers have any need for access to more spectrum assigned to FirstNet.”