How Much Has T-Mobile's EBS License Ownership Changed since the FCC Rule Change? Fri, Jul 14, 2023

On July 11, 2019, the FCC released a report and order that provided a pathway to commercial ownership of the 2.5GHz Educational Broadcast Service (EBS) channels that were previously reserved for educational groups. In this post, I am going to examine the progress that T-Mobile has made in shifting from leasing this spectrum to owning it.

We will be looking at two trends, using historical data from Spektrum Metric's Mobile Carrier - Spectrum Ownership Analysis Tool. The Mobile Carrier - Spectrum Ownership Analysis Tool is updated monthly and provides historical analysis going back to 2014.

Looking at our Spectrum Ownership Grid in the Web Spectrum Viewer, T-Mobile's control of the EBS spectrum is clearly seen. This is our Spectrum Grid displaying "Future" data which includes spectrum that T-Mobile leases or has a pending transaction filed.

Spectrum Grid - Future:

Shifting to the Spectrum Ownership Grid to display the spectrum licensee "FCC" reveals the licenses that T-Mobile actually owns. All of the white cells are educational licenses that likely lease their spectrum to T-Mobile.

Spectrum Grid - FCC:

National Weighted Spectrum Depth Trend:

The spectrum available in the EBS and BRS (Broadband Radio Service) bands for each county totals 194 MHz. If T-Mobile controlled every license in every county their National Population Weighted Average spectrum depth in the 2.5 GHz band would be 194 MHz, thus any amount of below 194 MHz represents another licensees ownership or lease of spectrum in these bands.

After the EBS Auction was completed, T-Mobile's total 2.5 GHz spectrum (orange line) rose from roughly 164 MHz to 180 MHz, indicating that about 14 MHz of Nationally Weighted Spectrum is controlled by other carriers and licensees. The spike in September 2022 indicates the release of the auction results.

Over the same time period we quantified the spectrum that was directly owned by T-mobile (blue line). Note: The EBS Auction results are not reflected in this trend line because T-Mobile has not received direct ownership of the licenses. In the December 2010 to June 2023 timeframe, T-Mobile increased their ownership of the EBS spectrum by 11 MHz (National Weighted Population Spectrum Depth).

MHz-POPs Trend:

MHz-POPs represent the value of the individual or cumulative licenses. It is essentially found by multiplying the number of people (population) that can be served by a license times the bandwidth (MHz) of the license. In the chart below, the orange link represents the cumulative MHz-POPs for all of the EBS licenses that T-Mobile owns and leases while the yellow line represents the EBS licenses that T-Mobile owns. In December 2020, T-Mobile had 29 Billion MHz-POPs of leased EBS spectrum and over the last 30 months they have converted about 2.5 Billion MHz-POPs of those licenses into owned spectrum. Again, the EBS auction licenses are not reflected on the Owned EBS trend line since the licenses have not been granted.

New EBS Whitespace Auction Licenses Tue, Jan 31, 2023

On December 1, 2022 the FCC began granting the new EBS licenses to the winning bidders from Auction 108. Since many of these licenses are not for complete counties or for the entire auction channel size, I thought it would be useful to see how these licenses appear on the FCC licensing system.

For an example, I have chosen the first auction channel (C1) for Iowa county, Wisconsin, which was purchased by Michigan Wireless.

The map for this license shows all of Iowa county highlighted and all of the C1 frequencies highlighted as well. (If the images are too small to read all of the details, right click on the image and select <Open image in new tab>.

Now looking at the market tab, we will focus on the information at the bottom of the screen. First, all of the 9 component channels (A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, C3) are listed above the county with a full county population value. This would indicate that this license is authorized to cover all 23,687 people living in Iowa county, WI.

Looking back at our outputs from the EBS Whitespace Auction Tool, we can see that representing this license as a complete county license for all of the component channels is not correct.

In our Population Percentage output, it is clear that Michigan Wireless did not purchase the rights to use the B1, B2, and B2 component channels because they were leased to T-Mobile through their lease with the State of Wisconsin -Educational Communications Board. It is also clear that 3% of the county's population cannot be covered with the A1, A2, and A3 component channels.

To see these numbers as raw population values, we will look at our Population output. In this view you can see the population that is licensed for each component channel and the only channels that cover the complete county population are the C1, C2, and C3 channels.

To be accurate, the FCC's market page should be updated to show the actual population available for each channel as seen below:

With the maps updated to show the actual license area for each component channel.

2502.0-2507.5, 2507.5-2513.0, 2513.0-2518.5 MHz (A1,A2,A3):

2518.5-2524.0, 2524.0-2529.5, 2529.5-2535.0 MHz (B1, B2, B3):

2535.0-2540.5, 2540.5-2546.0, 2546.0-2551.5 MHz (C1, C2, C3)

EBS Tribal License Updates Tue, May 24, 2022

With our May 2022 product releases we have updated our Mobile Carrier Spectrum Database to include the EBS Tribal Licenses that were given priority access to the EBS whitespace. Below we have mapped the existing EBS licenses, the tribal licenses, and the remaining EBS whitespace markets for the EBS A1 channel. As a reminder, the EBS A1 channel is one of 9 channels that make up the 1st EBS Auction Channel (C1) which is 49.5MHz. You can see that there are a significant number of tribal licenses in Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

Zooming in on Oklahoma, you can see how the tribal licenses have been cut away by the existing EBS licenses.

Below is a map of Oklahoma indicating the tribal boundaries that were requested. Where EBS licenses were already granted, the tribes were not authorized to claim that territory.

Auction 108 LIcense Inventory - Alabama Mon, Feb 22, 2021

Attachment A
Auction 108 License Inventory Subject to the Results of the Rural Tribal Priority Window
Proposed Bidding Units, Upfront Payments, and Minimum Bids

State/ Territory	County Name	FIPS Code	Channel	Item ID	Band- width	MEA	Population (2010)	Subject to Small Market Cap	Bidding Units	Upfront Payment	Minimum Bid
AL	Autauga	1001	1	AL-001-1	49.5	24	54,571	Yes	80	$8,000	$10,000
AL	Autauga	1001	2	AL-001-2	50.5	24	54,571	Yes	80	$8,000	$10,000
AL	Autauga	1001	3	AL-001-3	16.5	24	54,571	Yes	20	$2,000	$5,000
AL	Baldwin	1003	1	AL-003-1	49.5	27	182,265	No	200	$20,000	$50,000
AL	Baldwin	1003	2	AL-003-2	50.5	27	182,265	No	200	$20,000	$50,000
AL	Baldwin	1003	3	AL-003-3	16.5	27	182,265	No	90	$9,000	$10,000
AL	Barbour	1005	1	AL-005-1	49.5	24	27,457	Yes	40	$4,000	$8,000
AL	Barbour	1005	2	AL-005-2	50.5	24	27,457	Yes	40	$4,000	$8,000
AL	Barbour	1005	3	AL-005-3	16.5	24	27,457	Yes	10	$1,000	$2,000
AL	Bibb	1007	1	AL-007-1	49.5	24	22,915	Yes	30	$3,000	$6,000
AL	Bibb	1007	2	AL-007-2	50.5	24	22,915	Yes	30	$3,000	$6,000
AL	Bibb	1007	3	AL-007-3	16.5	24	22,915	Yes	10	$1,000	$2,000
AL	Blount	1009	1	AL-009-1	49.5	24	57,322	Yes	80	$8,000	$10,000
AL	Blount	1009	2	AL-009-2	50.5	24	57,322	Yes	80	$8,000	$10,000
AL	Blount	1009	3	AL-009-3	16.5	24	57,322	Yes	20	$2,000	$5,000
AL	Bullock	1011	1	AL-011-1	49.5	24	10,914	Yes	10	$1,000	$3,000
AL	Bullock	1011	2	AL-011-2	50.5	24	10,914	Yes	10	$1,000	$3,000
AL	Bullock	1011	3	AL-011-3	16.5	24	10,914	Yes	5	$500	$1,000
AL	Butler	1013	1	AL-013-1	49.5	24	20,947	Yes	30	$3,000	$6,000
AL	Butler	1013	2	AL-013-2	50.5	24	20,947	Yes	30	$3,000	$6,000
AL	Butler	1013	3	AL-013-3	16.5	24	20,947	Yes	10	$1,000	$2,000
AL	Chambers	1017	2	AL-017-2	50.5	8	34,215	Yes	50	$5,000	$10,000
AL	Cherokee	1019	1	AL-019-1	49.5	8	25,989	Yes	30	$3,000	$7,000
AL	Cherokee	1019	2	AL-019-2	50.5	8	25,989	Yes	30	$3,000	$7,000
AL	Cherokee	1019	3	AL-019-3	16.5	8	25,989	Yes	10	$1,000	$2,000
AL	Chilton	1021	1	AL-021-1	49.5	24	43,643	Yes	60	$6,000	$10,000
AL	Chilton	1021	2	AL-021-2	50.5	24	43,643	Yes	60	$6,000	$10,000
AL	Chilton	1021	3	AL-021-3	16.5	24	43,643	Yes	20	$2,000	$4,000
AL	Choctaw	1023	1	AL-023-1	49.5	26	13,859	Yes	20	$2,000	$4,000
AL	Choctaw	1023	2	AL-023-2	50.5	26	13,859	Yes	20	$2,000	$4,000
AL	Choctaw	1023	3	AL-023-3	16.5	26	13,859	Yes	6	$600	$1,000
AL	Clarke	1025	1	AL-025-1	49.5	27	25,833	No	30	$3,000	$7,000
AL	Clarke	1025	2	AL-025-2	50.5	27	25,833	No	30	$3,000	$7,000
AL	Clarke	1025	3	AL-025-3	16.5	27	25,833	No	10	$1,000	$2,000
AL	Clay	1027	1	AL-027-1	49.5	8	13,932	Yes	20	$2,000	$4,000
AL	Clay	1027	2	AL-027-2	50.5	8	13,932	Yes	20	$2,000	$4,000
AL	Clay	1027	3	AL-027-3	16.5	8	13,932	Yes	6	$600	$1,000
AL	Cleburne	1029	2	AL-029-2	50.5	8	14,972	Yes	20	$2,000	$4,000
AL	Coffee	1031	1	AL-031-1	49.5	24	49,948	Yes	70	$7,000	$10,000
AL	Coffee	1031	2	AL-031-2	50.5	24	49,948	Yes	70	$7,000	$10,000
AL	Coffee	1031	3	AL-031-3	16.5	24	49,948	Yes	20	$2,000	$4,000
AL	Conecuh	1035	1	AL-035-1	49.5	27	13,228	No	10	$1,000	$3,000
AL	Conecuh	1035	2	AL-035-2	50.5	27	13,228	No	10	$1,000	$3,000
AL	Conecuh	1035	3	AL-035-3	16.5	27	13,228	No	6	$600	$1,000
AL	Coosa	1037	1	AL-037-1	49.5	8	11,539	Yes	10	$1,000	$3,000
AL	Coosa	1037	2	AL-037-2	50.5	8	11,539	Yes	10	$1,000	$3,000
AL	Coosa	1037	3	AL-037-3	16.5	8	11,539	Yes	5	$500	$1,000
AL	Covington	1039	1	AL-039-1	49.5	24	37,765	Yes	50	$5,000	$10,000
AL	Covington	1039	2	AL-039-2	50.5	24	37,765	Yes	50	$5,000	$10,000
AL	Covington	1039	3	AL-039-3	16.5	24	37,765	Yes	10	$1,000	$3,000
AL	Crenshaw	1041	1	AL-041-1	49.5	24	13,906	Yes	20	$2,000	$4,000
AL	Crenshaw	1041	2	AL-041-2	50.5	24	13,906	Yes	20	$2,000	$4,000
AL	Crenshaw	1041	3	AL-041-3	16.5	24	13,906	Yes	6	$600	$1,000
AL	Cullman	1043	1	AL-043-1	49.5	24	80,406	Yes	100	$10,000	$20,000
AL	Cullman	1043	2	AL-043-2	50.5	24	80,406	Yes	100	$10,000	$20,000
AL	Cullman	1043	3	AL-043-3	16.5	24	80,406	Yes	30	$3,000	$7,000
AL	Dale	1045	1	AL-045-1	49.5	24	50,251	Yes	70	$7,000	$10,000
AL	Dale	1045	2	AL-045-2	50.5	24	50,251	Yes	70	$7,000	$10,000
AL	Dale	1045	3	AL-045-3	16.5	24	50,251	Yes	20	$2,000	$4,000
AL	Dallas	1047	1	AL-047-1	49.5	24	43,820	Yes	60	$6,000	$10,000
AL	Dallas	1047	2	AL-047-2	50.5	24	43,820	Yes	60	$6,000	$10,000
AL	Dallas	1047	3	AL-047-3	16.5	24	43,820	Yes	20	$2,000	$4,000