RTG Calls for Time Out on FCC Review of Spectrum Deals
The FCC review of Verizon Wireless’s buy of AWS licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox appears to be reaching its final stages, as FCC officials work through issues raised by the commercial agreements tied to the AWS license sales. Meanwhile, the Rural Telecommunications Group raised concerns about a “flurry of activity” in the secondary spectrum market, with AT&T proposing several spectrum buys, and asked the FCC to halt consideration of the Verizon/cable transactions, the Verizon/T-Mobile spectrum swap and other pending deals “until parties have the opportunity to weigh the numerous transactions contemplated by AT&T."
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FCC staff are examining the commercial agreements closely, with Department of Justice and FCC staff negotiating with Verizon Wireless executives and the cable principals, trying to arrive at a satisfactory agreement, FCC officials said Friday. Staff are committed to circulating an order on Verizon/SpectrumCo by Aug. 21, the 180-day unofficial deadline for FCC action, but view the commercial agreements as integral to the spectrum sales.
"We continue to work constructively with the FCC and DOJ to resolve the remaining issues,” a Verizon Wireless spokesman said Friday. “We are confident that we will receive the necessary approvals this summer."
RTG highlighted AT&T’s numerous recently announced spectrum buys, which the group said could have a detrimental effect on competition, in a letter by General Counsel Cari Bennet (http://xrl.us/bnjap5). On Thursday, AT&T announced a deal to buy NextWave Wireless (CD Aug 3 p1). AT&T also has announced recent deals with Cavalier Wireless, Comcast, ComSouth, Farmers Telephone, Horizon Wi-Com, McBride Spectrum Partners, David Miller and Triad 700, Bennet noted: “And, there is no indication that this buying spree by AT&T will subside."
"What is most disturbing about this flurry of transactions is that the only purchaser of this spectrum has been AT&T,” Bennet wrote. “The threat to competition posed by the entrenched duopoly of AT&T and Verizon is further manifesting itself by the now constant onslaught of spectrum aggregation in the traditional CMRS bands. Without access to new spectrum, competing carriers will be unable to offer new 4G/LTE services and effectively compete with the Twin Bells."
"Our pursuit of secondary market transactions -- and our purchase of spectrum not presently in commercial service -- will allow us to meet consumers’ soaring demand for mobile Internet services and to provide a robust platform for app developers, software makers and equipment manufacturers,” an AT&T spokesman said in response to RTG. “This is fully consistent with the goals of the National Broadband Plan, which found that secondary market transactions permit the efficient and effective use of valuable spectrum resources that might otherwise remain unused or under-utilized."
Communications Workers of America, which has lined up against the Verizon/cable deals, acknowledged that the regulatory review appears to be entering the homestretch. “The Verizon Wireless-Big Cable deal will cost thousands of jobs, raise prices for consumers and virtually guarantee that too many communities remain stuck on the wrong side of the digital divide,” CWA said in a statement Friday. “This time around, the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice seem to have lost their focus on competition. ... Regulators are demonstrating a real disconnect between supporting this deal and the Obama administration’s goals of affordable high-speed Internet access for all, and the good jobs that are necessary to push our sluggish economy forward. The remedy to ensure competition and good jobs is clear: the FCC and DOJ should bar cross-marketing within the Verizon footprint and require Verizon to continue buildout of its high speed FiOS network.”