The Competitive Carriers Association said no parties have...
The Competitive Carriers Association said no parties have filed comments to date that adequately counter its petition seeking conditions if the FCC approves a series of spectrum deals unveiled by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Grain Spectrum in January (CD Jan…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
28 p9), in reply comments at the FCC. “The Applicants predictably attempt to deflect the serious concerns raised by CCA and others that the proposed transactions would harm the public interest,” CCA said. “The essence of the Applicants’ opposition is that the competitive harms asserted by the petitioners ‘are or were the subject of industry-wide proceedings,’ and they claim that the petitioners have ‘provided no evidence of any harms that would result from these transactions that their proposed conditions would purportedly address.'” CCA said it disagrees. “This transaction, if approved without condition, will further entrench the dominant positions of Verizon and AT&T and constrain competitors’ access to interoperable devices, all to consumers’ detriment,” CCA said (http://bit.ly/17VdXmU). “The Applicants fail to adequately address the stark fact that by allowing the use of an antiquated spectrum screen (a screen which results in no heightened scrutiny for spectrum holdings below one-third of all suitable and available spectrum), the FCC’s current regulatory environment allows carriers such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless to slowly and methodically control collectively two-thirds of all suitable and available spectrum in any given market,” the Rural Telecommunications Group said in its reply comments (http://bit.ly/17OOQPA). “Under the existing regulatory environment, the Twin Bells are also able to maintain collective control of at least two-thirds all suitable and available spectrum below 1 Gigahertz in any given market."