WASHINGTON, D.C.—In a development that has important implications for the ongoing rollout and success of data services and NextGen TV, the FCC has closed its reconsideration of a 2021 ruling on distributed television systems. 

Microsoft had requested that the FCC reconsider the DTS Report and Order that modified the Commission’s technical rules. The modifications were designed to promote expanded use of distributed transmission systems (DTS) by broadcast television stations. The NAB and broadcasters had requested the changes to help broadcasters speed up the deployment of NextGen TV services and the development of data services. 

Microsoft filed a petition in March of 2021 asking the FCC to reconsider that decision because the order would hurt their Airband Initiative to use TV white spaces to provide broadband services in rural areas. It "needlessly worsens an already-difficult environment" for TV white spaces deployments, the filing noted. 

The NAB responded with a May 25, 2021 blog post by NAB deputy general counsel Patrick McFadden blasting Microsoft's efforts to get the FCC to revise the January 2021 ruling, calling Microsoft's Airband Initiative "hot air" and a heavily hyped solution to the rural broadband gap that has not lived up to its promises.

Later in a August 3 filing with the FCC, APTS and the NAB continued their opposition to Microsoft, arguing that “Microsoft’s petition presents no legitimate case for reconsideration and the Commission should promptly deny it.”

On August 5, 2024, the FCC reported that “Microsoft filed a request for withdrawal of the Petition stating that it is `no longer pursuing or advocating for the matters raised in the Petition’ and that the Petition may be dismissed.”

In response, the FCC ordered that “the request for withdrawal filed by Microsoft Corporation IS GRANTED, and the petition for reconsideration filed by Microsoft Corporation IS DISMISSED without prejudice. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, should no petitions for reconsideration or petitions for judicial review be timely filed, MB Docket No. 20-74 SHALL BE TERMINATED and its docket closed.”

WASHINGTON—Microsoft is expanding its Airband Initiative, which uses unlicensed "white spaces" spectrum in the TV band to deploy broadband to rural and underserved communities, and wants the government to contribute some money to incentivize that expansion, with the money going to deployment 'partners' like ISPs.

It had initially planned to bring access to 2 million people by July 2022, but Microsoft President Brad Smith announced in Washington Tuesday (Dec. 4), that it was ahead of schedule and was upping the ante to 3 million by that date.

He said that by December of next year the initiative would be in 25 states and added that the company would continue to "advocate for public policies to accelerate the investment in TV white spaces technologies that are needed."

[Read: Microsoft’s White Space Redux]

The FCC is currently working out the framework for the additional white spaces spectrum sharing made possible by the broadcast incentive auction. Broadcasters are concerned that the FCC needs to do more vetting of the process, particularly the database managers responsible for making sure that broadband service avoid the licensed TV services in the band. The National Association of Broadcasters declined to comment on the expansion, which Microsoft is arguing the government should invest in as well as clear the regulatory runway.

"As we deepen our commitment to bringing broadband to rural America, we believe the country can raise its ambition as well," Smith blogged.

"We think it’s time to look at how the country spends public money and re-target a small portion of those funds in ways that will close the broadband gap more quickly. To date, almost 90 percent of the money spent by the federal government on rural broadband has been spent on laying fixed lines, primarily fiber-optic cables — a solution that costs at least three to four times more than wireless technologies. We think there is a better way. If the federal government reallocates just a small additional fraction of public money toward incentives for TV white spaces devices, it will help accelerate adoption, bring costs of devices down and help the ecosystem lift off."

Smith said Microsoft isn't asking for the government handout, which makes sense given that the company is one of the largest in the world. "None of this funding would go from the government to Microsoft," he said, "but it would be available to the telecommunications partners [ISPs] whom we are working to assist."

But he is also looking for regulatory help.

"Moving faster will also require updating federal regulations governing the use of TV white spaces to free up this often unused and plentiful spectrum for rural broadband," he added.

 Smith says the government needs to get a move on. "It took 50 years to electrify the nation," he says. "The millions of Americans waiting for broadband don’t have the luxury of time." Broadcasters, by contrast, want the FCC to pause long enough to make sure that licensed broadcasters won't be harmed in the rush to unlicensed broadband.

Microsoft, which has long eagerly eyed the low-band TV spectrum, also joined with ACT: The App Association and various rural and education groups to form the Connect Americans Now (CAN) coalition to push for closing the rural divide using TV white spaces.