The Communications Workers of America delineated the problems it has...
The Communications Workers of America delineated the problems it has encountered trying to obtain, open or read some of the thousands of documents filed by Verizon Wireless and the cable companies answering questions from the FCC on the proposed sale…
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of AWS licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox to Verizon. “CWA renews its request for the Commission to stop the 180-day clock to allow for a meaningful evaluation and sound analysis of the record,” the union said in a letter to the FCC (http://xrl.us/bm5vna). “In light of the delays in document production, the volume of documents recently produced, and the manner of production, including CWA’s difficulty in searching some documents without indexes or tables, stopping the clock is the only way that CWA can be afforded the opportunity to evaluate the information submitted by the Applicants in a meaningful way.” CWA specifically cited documents filed by Verizon it said its counsel couldn’t open at all. “CWA and CWA’s counsel do not have the ‘MapInfo’ or ’shapefile’ software which is apparently required to open these files,” the letter said. “In order to review these files, CWA would have to purchase a license that would cost $1,699 per person for each counsel or consultant reviewing the files. In the interest of allowing the public the opportunity to meaningfully review, CWA respectfully requests that these files should be provided in a format readily accessible to interested parties.” Verizon said in a letter to the FCC it is willing to work with parties like CWA to make various files accessible. Verizon said company officials had spoken with FCC officials last week and that the SpectrumCo partners and Cox also were willing to make documents accessible. “The Applicants explained that they have complied with the technical and formatting specifications contained in the Commission’s instructions accompanying the Information and Discovery Requests and have fully satisfied their obligations to make their documents available to third parties pursuant to the Protective Orders in this proceeding. However, the Applicants expressed a willingness to take certain additional steps to facilitate third-party review of the materials by Protective Order signatories.” “Verizon Wireless has made a strong case that putting unused spectrum to use to serve consumers is in the public interest,” a Verizon spokesman said. “We are working closely with the FCC to provide it with the information it has requested and to ensure that other parties engaged in this transaction have a full opportunity to review the appropriate information."