Cordova carrier tells FCC spectrum hoarding blocks rural broadband

Cordova has a problem you can't see: the airwaves over the town are spoken for, nobody's using them, and the company that actually serves the community can't get at them.

That's the case Cordova Wireless Communications brought to the FCC by teleconference June 10. CEO Jeremiah Beckett and CFO Lisa Koker told commission staff that nationwide carriers hold spectrum licenses covering the Cordova region but won't deploy on them — and won't lease them to the local provider that would. The company calls it spectrum hoarding, and says it's blocking Cordova Wireless from meeting the federal government's own broadband speed standards.

Normally the fix would be more spectrum. But the FCC's authority to auction licenses lapsed in March 2023 when Congress declined to renew it, so the agency can't bring new airwaves to market while existing licensees sit on what they have. The spectrum is locked up twice: once by the carriers, once by Congress.

The meeting came as the FCC builds eligibility maps for the Alaska Connect Fund, its restructured broadband subsidy program for the state. Cordova — reachable only by air or sea — has challenged the agency's maps before, arguing its waterways and islands went missing from coverage assessments, and this time flagged inaccessible map hexes, asked for flexibility on testing given a small staff and seasonal usage spikes, and said it can't plan capital investment while the fund's rules stay in flux.

The FCC has adjusted its rural Alaska expectations before, accounting for backhaul deficits when setting performance requirements. Cordova's ask is that spectrum scarcity get the same treatment — because right now, the airwaves are there, and they're empty.