The FCC refused to declare that Sprint has...
The FCC refused to declare that Sprint has paid out enough in 800 MHz rebanding costs so the carrier won’t owe the federal government a “windfall” payment for the spectrum it received as part of the 800 MHz rebanding order,…
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in an order released Wednesday. In January 2013, Sprint asked the FCC (http://bit.ly/ZvvL2k) to declare it has met the obligation Nextel took on before it combined with Sprint, in the FCC’s landmark 800 MHz rebanding order in 2004. The order stipulated that Nextel would be required to pay the full value of the 10 MHz national spectrum license it got as part of the rebinding agreement. The goal of the rebanding order was to address interference to public safety systems in the 800 MHz band. “We conclude that it is premature to make this finding at this time, but we establish an expedited process for assessment of Sprint’s creditable expenditures and provide guidance as to additional documentation Sprint may submit to support such a determination in the future,” the FCC said (http://bit.ly/1raZkqj). But the agency signed off to reduce the letter of credit amount Sprint must maintain to guarantee it has funds on hand to pay for the rebanding from $850 million to $457 million, which is slightly higher than projected remaining rebanding costs. The letter was originally $2.5 billion but was gradually reduced as the rebanding moved forward, the FCC said. Requiring maintenance of a $850 million letter of credit is “unnecessarily burdensome on Sprint,” the agency said. “Sprint is required to pay substantial carrying fees on the letter of credit. No public interest purpose would be served by requiring Sprint to continue to incur them at the present level.”