AT&T filed an economist-written paper at the FCC Thursday...

argue that it and Verizon Wireless, the nation’s two largest carriers, should not face restrictions on buying spectrum in the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson made that point repeatedly Wednesday (CD June 13 p4). The original filing was by DOJ’s Antitrust Division. “Long-held principles of American antitrust policy dictate that: (a) drastic market intervention (including restrictions on auction participation) be undertaken only when careful, fact-based economic analysis reveals substantial risk of significant competitive harm from inaction, and (b) any intervention be designed to protect competition rather than specific competitors,” the paper said. “The Division’s letter departs from both principles. First, it fails to engage with the large body of evidence and analysis already submitted in these proceedings, instead offering little more than theoretical suppositions and unfounded speculation and then proceeding as if such speculation constituted sound evidentiary analysis. Indeed, rather than engaging with the facts of this market, the Division suggests that the burden is on AT&T and Verizon Wireless to demonstrate that their access to new spectrum should not be restricted. Second, the Division argues for a policy that manifestly favors some competitors over others.” The paper was written by economists including Michael Katz of the University of California at Berkeley and Philip Haile of Yale University.