T-Mobile Enticing Stations To Repack Early

Eager to expand and enhance its wireless service offerings, T-Mobile wants access to the $8 billion worth of 600 MHz spectrum it acquired in the FCC’s incentive auction as soon as possible, and so is working with broadcasters to speed up the TV band repacking in some areas, according to broadcasters who have been approached by the wireless carrier.

A T-Mobile spokesman confirmed that it has been talking to broadcasters about their moving to their new channels more quickly than required by the FCC, but  offered no details on specific broadcasters or what inducements it is offering for early moves.

The initiative is consistent with the company’s vision for how the 31 MHz of broadcast spectrum it won in the auction plays into its plans for 4G LTE and a nationwide 5G mobile network.

T-Mobile is committed to building “a real nationwide 5G mobile network using the new spectrum we acquired [in the 600 MHz incentive auction],” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a video post on the company’s website May 2. In an accompanying press release, the company set a goal of 2020 for full nationwide 5G mobile coverage with work beginning in 2019.

T-Mobile also will use a portion of the its newly acquired 600 MHz spectrum for LTE deployment, Legere said.

In the wake of the FCC’s incentive auction of broadcast spectrum to wireless carriers,  976 U.S. stations are required to move to new channels in 10 phases, each with its own deadline.

The agency’s schedule sets May 2, 2020, for Phase 10 testing to begin and completion of this final phase on July 3, 2020. That leaves the wireless carrier about five months to complete its targeted nationwide 5G mobile rollout.

If T-Mobile is offering compensation for early moves, it will come on top of the money the government has promised broadcasters to cover their moving expenses.

Some of the stations T-Mobile would like to clear come in the later FCC repack phases.

One such station is Sinclair’s WNUV, its CW affiliate in Baltimore, that operates on ch. 40 and is not required to complete its move until March 30, 2020, said Sinclair VP Mark Aitken.

“They are hoping to clear that particular band early, and there have been very preliminary discussions,” Aitken said. “There have been no dollars placed on the table yet other than them saying they are willing to provide an incentive to move early.”

Dennis Wallace, a partner and technical consultant at the Washington-based engineering consultancy Meintel, Sgrignoli & Wallace, confirms that his firm has received several inquiries from station clients interested in moving to their new channel assignments before their phase deadlines.

The FCC will consider allowing stations to move early, said FCC spokesman Charlie Meisch. “But the threshold for granting such a petition is whether or not it has any impact on the rest of the repack.”

Therein lies the biggest problem with early moves, particularly as they relate to individual stations that are encumbered because of the interference they may create for other stations, said consulting RF engineer Merrill Weiss.

“What the FCC is trying to do is choreograph a dance that allows stations to move together in ways [so] that they don’t cause interference to one another before or after their channel changes,” he said. “Often, you can’t change the channel in use by one station without creating co- or adjacent-channel interference to one or more other stations.”

To move before the completion date of its assigned phase, a station would have to undertake the kind of interference studies typically done when putting a new station on the air — but with a twist.

“Instead of just looking at an existing environment,” said Weiss, “one would have to project forward to what the environment ultimately will be. Will the early move affect other members of the dance company on their new channel assignments?”

Not all stations changing channels are part of a linked set of stations. For these stations, moving earlier than scheduled may prove easier, said the FCC’s Meisch, adding that he did not “want to prejudge any application in terms of the interference issue.”

However, interference isn’t the only issue for the FCC and the television industry.

“When we developed the plan, part of what we looked at is resource allocation — the availability of tower crews, transmitters and antenna — all the parts of the supply chain that must move together,” he said.

T-Mobile has already demonstrated its willingness to spend money to insure that the repack stays on schedule.

In April 2016, it partnered with the TV antenna and tower manufacturer Electronics Research Inc. in Chandler, Ind., to increase its production capacity by 800% to meet the anticipated demands of the repack.

ERI is addressing what has been expected to be the biggest repack supply chain choke point by increasing its tower crews to four and adding all the tower rigging equipment needed for two additional crews, said ERI VP Bill Harland.

The added equipment is intended to be leased to other qualified tower rigging companies, he said.

T-Mobile’s eagerness to put its new spectrum to work is surprising, said Roger Charlesworth, an independent media technology consultant and executive director of the DTV Audio Group, which is playing a leadership role in addressing the wireless mic issues raised by the auction of 600 MHz TV spectrum.

“What has happened is the wireless carriers — in particular T-Mobile — are moving a lot faster than anyone thought,” he said. “Their suppliers have equipment ready, and they are ready to deploy as quickly as possible where they are able to.”

Los Angeles is high on T-Mobile’s list of markets where it hopes to accelerate the repack, said Charlesworth.

Some broadcasters question how serious T-Mobile is about moving stations early. The company is talking, but nothing more, one broadcast source said.

Even if T-Mobile is serious, the broadcast industry may be unable to accommodate the carrier given limited station engineering resources, the source said.

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