Dish Network should receive buildout requirements similar to those required...

those in the Sprint/Nextel and Sprint/Clearwire deals -- somewhere around 30 million Americans within 6 years. LightSquared agreed to build out to 260 million Americans within 5 years and nine months of the transfer of control from SkyTerra to Harbinger Capital Partners, the transaction that created LightSquared. AT&T said the repurposing of the 2 GHz band for terrestrial service “will yield significant public benefits,” but also creates a windfall for Dish, and build-out requirements are necessary. The carrier said the commission should reject the revised buildout plan Dish presented to the FCC recently (CD Jan 25 p18), even though the details weren’t released. AT&T said in a footnote that Dish’s filing may violate the FCC’s ex parte rules due to the lack of specifics. The possibility of Dish combining its 2 GHz band holdings with its 700 MHz band licenses is a cause for interference concern with the 700 MHz spectrum AT&T bought from Qualcomm. The commission should resolve the potential interference issues now as part of Dish’s waiver request, said AT&T. It said the FCC should also reject calls to require agency approval for a sale or lease of spectrum to the top two wireless carriers, as was done in the Harbinger deal. “Those restrictions were procedurally improper” and “there is no basis for the adoption of similar restrictions in the current proceeding,” said AT&T.