I’m surprised that this hasn’t come up before, Verizon suggesting that the FCC might simply throw up their hands at 4.9 GHz in desperation and conduct a 4.9 GHz overlay auction.  Does anyone doubt that the FCC will be given auction authority again? The potential for that approach has always lingered in the background and has become more of a realistic option for the FCC as the public safety community remains divided. If that were to happen, PSSA becomes immediately even more irrelevant and public safety  would have to decide who to blame if they lost control of a band dedicated to their use for more than twenty years. I agree with Verizon’s view that “there is no evidence to support assigning another 50 megahertz to FirstNet. Nothing in the record documents that FirstNet lacks access to sufficient spectrum to meet its statutory role.”  Verizon added that rather than “gifting the band to one commercial provider (AT&T) … then the FCC must consider assigning this spectrum through an appropriate competitive process.”  Meanwhile the City of Boston and the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority stepped up to the plate and provided the FCC with bona fide examples of how they are using the 4.9 GHz band at the local level and for what purposes without the assistance of a national carrier. Hopefully, the FCC hierarchy honors its commitment to local public safety control in this band and ignores PSSA’s bluster.