NTCH urged the FCC to reverse last month’s...
NTCH urged the FCC to reverse last month’s grant of Dish Network’s request for flexible use (CD Dec 23 p1) of its AWS-4 spectrum and for a one-year extension of terrestrial network buildout requirements. The waiver of the buildout deadline…
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“was inconsistent with long and consistent FCC precedent regarding the grounds for providing construction build-out relief,” NTCH said in docket 13-225 (http://bit.ly/19QUQyn). By granting Dish the right to make its uplink/downlink election up to 30 months from the date of the waiver order, the commission gave Dish a huge advantage in the auction by allowing it to unilaterally increase the value of the adjacent H block by the election it makes, said the small wireless carrier. The Wireless Bureau “clearly would not have taken the actions absent Dish’s commitment to pay the H block cash,” NTCH said referring to Dish’s agreement to bid nearly $1.6 billion in the auction should the FCC approve its waiver. “The question of first impression here is whether the commission itself may engage in conduct which it would be unlawful for one of its employees to engage in.” The waiver gives Dish an unfair advantage in the H-block auction, which began Wednesday, said NTCH. “The integrity of the auction is necessarily distorted from the start by the imbalance in the fairness of the bidding process.” Dish and the bureau had no comment. Observers of early bidding rounds expect Dish to buy most of the spectrum (CD Jan 23 p4).