{"id":18366,"date":"2013-07-12T15:30:44","date_gmt":"2013-07-12T19:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/?p=18366"},"modified":"2013-07-16T16:40:12","modified_gmt":"2013-07-16T20:40:12","slug":"fcc-spectrum-screen-should-encourage-competition-not-pick-winners-and-losers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/18366\/fcc-spectrum-screen-should-encourage-competition-not-pick-winners-and-losers\/","title":{"rendered":"FCC Spectrum Screen Should Encourage Competition, Not Pick Winners and Losers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved<\/a> a pair of sequential purchases:\u00a0 (1)\u00a0 Sprint\u2019s purchase of the remainder of Clearwire\u2019s spectrum, and (2)\u00a0 the Japanese company SoftBank\u2019s purchase of Sprint. \u00a0So far, so good.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the problem.\u00a0 Those interrelated transactions presented the FCC with a perfect opportunity to reform the so-called \u201cspectrum screen,\u201d a tool that measures spectrum available for wireless use in order to ensure competition in the wireless market. \u00a0Unfortunately, the FCC failed to make any reform whatsoever to that spectrum screen framework, which will only serve to create even more regulatory uncertainty and discourage critical wireless infrastructure investment.<\/p>\n

The screen framework has been, and can continue to be, a useful tool for assessing competitive effects of spectrum.\u00a0 But until that framework is brought up-to-date to reflect all spectrum available and useable for mobile wireless services, the tool remains outmoded and flawed, effectively artificially picking winners and losers.<\/p>\n

With the FCC\u2019s inaction last week, a 2008 decision (the last time the FCC visited the spectrum screen issue) continues to guide spectrum aggregation policy.\u00a0 In that decision, the FCC chose to ignore the bulk of Clearwire\u2019s 2.5 GHz spectrum, counting only 55.5 MHz of it toward the screen.\u00a0 By not revisiting the spectrum screen when it green-lighted last week\u2019s transactions, the FCC continued to discount a large portion of spectrum available for wireless use. \u00a0It\u2019s difficult to understand their rationale.<\/p>\n

Sprint continues to advocate for its own interests, insisting that only one-third of its Clearwire spectrum should be included in the spectrum screen. \u00a0Sprint bought the remainder of Clearwire\u2019s spectrum to pave the way for the SoftBank deal, to leverage the value of Clearwire\u2019s network and to optimize Clearwire\u2019s spectrum. \u00a0So while the FCC chooses not to tally all of Clearwire\u2019s available BRS\/EBS spectrum, SoftBank gained rights to the 2.5 GHz band.\u00a0 \u00a0In contrast, when AT&T previously acquired WCS licenses at 2.3 GHz, the FCC found that the spectrum was usable for mobile wireless services and\u00a0made changes to the screen.<\/p>\n

Curiously, the FCC’s order last week maintained that the three-way deal was not the appropriate vehicle for reviewing the spectrum screen because, from the Commission\u2019s point of view, no spectrum was being swapped.\u00a0\u00a0SoftBank, however, owns no U.S. airwaves. \u00a0Moreover, the FCC had previously ascribed Clearwire’s spectrum to Sprint.\u00a0 Thus, the FCC oddly seems to believe that such an exchange of spectrum is not a transfer.<\/p>\n

The FCC\u2019s position not to adjust the spectrum screen in the recent transfer of spectrum to a Japanese owned company is disturbing, especially\u00a0given that it is currently considering imposing\u2014on an ad hoc<\/em> basis\u2014a spectrum screen on America\u2019s two largest domestic wireless companies in the upcoming spectrum auction.<\/p>\n

The spectrum screen, used properly and applied in a competitively neutral manner, can be a useful tool to protect competition in the wireless marketplace. \u00a0But the FCC should stop trying to exploit it to pick \u201cwinners and losers\u201d in the marketplace.\u00a0 Instead, the FCC should update its existing screen to ensure that it incorporates all<\/em> available spectrum\u00a0suitable for mobile wireless services.\u00a0 Only then will it provide the market with the business certainty necessary to advance further infrastructure investment and wireless innovation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a pair of sequential purchases:\u00a0 (1)\u00a0 Sprint\u2019s purchase of the remainder of Clearwire\u2019s spectrum, and (2)\u00a0 the Japanese company SoftBank\u2019s purchase of Sprint. \u00a0So far, so good. Here\u2019s the problem.\u00a0 Those interrelated transactions presented the FCC with a perfect opportunity to reform the so-called \u201cspectrum screen,\u201d a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[188,3228,4198,4197],"class_list":["post-18366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts","tag-fcc","tag-spectrum","tag-spectrum-screen","tag-sprint"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18366"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18376,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18366\/revisions\/18376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}