May 12, 2016–The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Incentive Auction Task Force announced today that 99 parties are eligible to participate in the forward portion of the incentive auction. A public notice released this afternoon said that only five of the 104 applications that had been submitted were deemed incomplete. In March, the agency announced that 104 parties had filed applications and that 69 of those were complete and 35 were incomplete and had to be corrected by April 6 (TRDaily, March 18).
Today, the bureau and task force said that the applications of the following parties were still incomplete: Thomas K. Kurian, laboral data systems, Liberty Spectrum, Inc., Lisa Wendl, and G- Wire. A footnote in today’s public notice observed that Ms. Wendl had filed two applications under her name. It said she changed the name of one of the applicants to Pacific Comnex, Inc., whose application is complete. The other application was deemed incomplete. Liberty Global, Inc., confirmed in March that while it had filed an application as Liberty Spectrum, it had “decided not to participate in the auction.”
Parties with complete applications include Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Inc., T-Mobile US, Inc., Dish Network Corp., United States Cellular Corp., Comcast Corp., and Cellular South, Inc. (d/b/a C Spire Wireless, Inc.). There are also a number of rural telephone cooperatives and telcos as well as small wireless carriers and consortia that filed complete applications.
Puerto Rico Telephone Company, Inc., has also filed an application. It is indirectly controlled by America Movil S.A.B. de C.V., which is controlled by the Carlos Slim family. Also filing is Docomo Pacific, Inc., a subsidiary of NTT DoCoMo, Inc.
One non-traditional applicant is Social Capital Rama Spectrum Holdings LLC. Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist and former Facebook, Inc., executive, has reportedly said he wants to build a U.S. wireless carrier called Rama and spend $4 billion to $10 billion on spectrum.
Fifty-three applicants are seeking small business bidding credits, while 29 are seeking rural provider bidding credits.
“The list is long and strong,” said TV station consultant Preston Padden, former executive director of the defunct Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition. “This will be the largest auction ever in both amount of spectrum and dollars.”
Others are not as certain that the auction will raise record revenues.
NTCA Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield said her group “is pleased that a number of its member companies submitted applications to participate in the spectrum incentive auction” and are seeking rural bidding credits. “This strong showing demonstrates the commitment that rural telecommunications providers have to providing state-of-the-art communications services for the benefit of the communities they serve, and highlights the very real benefits of the FCC’s decision to establish a rural bidding credit for this auction so that those most interested in finding innovative solutions to serve rural markets have a better opportunity to do so,” she added. – Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com
Courtesy TRDaily