The FCC voted to create an Enhanced Competition Incentive Program (ECIP) to establish incentives for wireless licensees to make underutilized spectrum available to small carriers, Tribal Nations, and entities serving rural areas.
The new program encourages licensees to partition, disaggregate, or lease spectrum to better match available spectrum resources with entities that seek to provide needed services to under-connected communities.
Under this new program, small carriers and Tribal Nations can qualify, as can rural-focused entities. Transactions through the new program must offer at least half of the licensed spectrum from a given Wireless Radio Service license to an unaffiliated eligible entity for long-term use within specific geographic parameters. Under the program, any covered geographic licensee may offer spectrum to an unaffiliated eligible entity through a partition and/or disaggregation, and any covered geographic licensee eligible to lease in an included service may offer spectrum to an unaffiliated eligible entity through a long-term leasing arrangement.
FCC Chairwowan Jessica Rosenworcel states: “I’m excited to see the new deployments this program will foster. I’m also grateful for the creative spark to establish this initiative that was first provided by Senator Klobuchar and Senator Fischer in the MOBILE NOW Act. We’re making their incentive ideas from that legislation a reality today and I think it will help expand wireless deployment in rural and Tribal communities. It’s a terrific tool to use— among others—to make sure we reach 100 percent of us with high-speed service.”
https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-establishes-enhanced-competition-incentive-program-0
