Sprint Nextel opposed Dish Network’s proposal to use its lower 5 MHz...

is interested in bidding on. This proposal “would substantially reduce both the prospective value and wireless broadband utility of the H block, thereby undercutting the viability of the H block for supporting increased wireless broadband competition,” Sprint said in an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bn5bgh). It said executives met with staff from the Wireless Bureau, Office of Engineering and Technology and from the offices of Chairman Julius Genachowski and commissioners Robert McDowell, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel. Dish’s offer to designate the lowest 5 MHz of its uplink, at 2000-2005 MHz, as an internal terrestrial guard band “is vague and ambiguous, and of dubious value when compared to the commission’s draft proposal,” Sprint said. Dish fails to explain what the voluntary designation would entail, “how long it would last, how it would be enforced and how and whether it would bind successor AWS-4 licensees,” Sprint said. Dish made the proposal last week (CD Dec 5 p8). The proposal offers benefits to the AWS-4 proceeding and the H block auction proceeding, Dish said in an ex parte filing. It “significantly increases the chance of a successful H block high-power LTE auction” and “provides greater certainty for the future H block licensee,” the company said. H block transmissions would cause AWS-4 base station receiver blocking and spurious emissions interference, it said. “Debating technical solutions without frequency separation would cause considerable delay to finalization of the future H block 3GPP [3rd Generation Partnership Project] specifications.” Dish’s proposed limit of -30 dBm at 2000 MHz will be sufficient to protect future H block devices, “given the low probability of interference and available technical mitigations,” it added. Last week, Dish executives met in person and held teleconferences with staff from the bureau, Genachowski’s office, the offices of Clyburn and Rosenworcel and other staff.