Frequently Asked Questions
Any Federal agencies that have operated over spectrum licensed to Aloha Partners II are in the process of relocating to other spectrum, as they are required by law to do. Thus, Aloha Partners II fully expects that their operations will not be an impediment to Aloha Partners II providing Broadband service in its license areas.
Aloha Partners II qualified as a “very small business” in the AWS auction. As a result, Aloha was given a 25% bidding credit on the purchase prices of its licenses. Aloha’s obligation to repay these bidding credits to the FCC will expire in early 2012.
Almost all the microwave customers in Aloha markets have been relocated to other frequencies. The few that still remain should be relocated by yearend 2011.
The FCC requires that Aloha provide “substantial service” in its license areas by 2021 in order to meet the build-out requirements for providing service. Aloha plans to provide “substantial service” in all its markets within the next several years and expects to meet all the FCC build-out requirements well ahead of the required date.
Aloha Partners II is a privately owned limited partnership. Charles Townsend is President of the firm that is the general partner of Aloha Partners II, L.P. He and a number of private equity investors are the principal owners of the limited partnership. Many of the investors in Aloha Partners II were also investors in the original Aloha Partners. Aloha Partners was a separate limited partnership that invested in 700MHz spectrum in 2002 and later sold that spectrum to AT&T in 2008.
Both handsets and transmission equipment are available for the AWS frequencies. T-Mobile, Leap Wireless, and MetroPCS are all using significant amounts of AWS equipment. AWS equipment is available for CDMA, GSM and HSPA networks.
Aloha had originally planned to build out 3rd Generation wireless broadband networks in major metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. However, due to the widespread use of iPhones and other Smartphones, the spectrum required for Broadband networks has increased dramatically. As a result, Aloha is exploring partnering with other wireless carriers to develop 4th Generation broadband networks in its markets.
Aloha’s licenses cover approximately 45 million pops of AWS spectrum that is concentrated in the top 50 major metropolitan areas. Approximately 75% is 10MHz “C block” licenses and approximately 25% is 20MHz “A block” licenses. The total Aloha “MHz pops” is close to 600 million based on the 2000 census. The Aloha licenses are located in 5 clusters in Northern California, Colorado, Texas, the Midwest and New England.
