Eshoo Urges FCC Reconsider AT&T/FiberTower, Straight Path/Verizon Spectrum Deals
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., urged the FCC Wednesday to reconsider approval earlier this year of the transfer of 39 GHz licenses from FiberTower to AT&T and high-frequency spectrum licenses from Straight Path to Verizon (see 1801180046 and 1802080055). Wireless Bureau…
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decisions approving the deals “awarded investors in Straight Path and FiberTower multi-billion dollar windfalls at the expense of taxpayers,” Eshoo said in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. She questioned the deals' timing and is concerned they could distort a planned November auction of 28 GHz band spectrum since the Straight Path deal would mean Verizon would already have a major presence on the band. The FCC should rescind the bureau-level decisions, reclaim the previously-canceled Straight Path and FiberTower licenses “as the FCC's rules require, and conduct a timely assignment of this spectrum and the other available millimeter bands,” Eshoo said. “Spectrum assignments should be neutral, transparent and efficient, and the current Bureau-level decisions are none of these things." Straight Path and Verizon paid a $600 million civil penalty in February in connection with a 2017 settlement to end an Enforcement Bureau investigation into Straight Path's failure to use its spectrum in violation of buildout and discontinuance rules (see 1701120046 and 1802280039). Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry said it's an “understatement” to say the bureau's “decisions are not in the public interest” since they “reward Straight Path and FiberTower with multi-billion-dollar windfalls for not building out spectrum and provide Verizon and AT&T a first-mover advantage in coveted 5G spectrum at the expense of American taxpayers.” CCA petitioned for an FCC review and stay of its AT&T/FiberTower decision. All stakeholders would “benefit from an auction of the valuable high-band spectrum, as opposed to going down the path of further spectrum consolidation by already dominant wireless incumbents,” Berry said in a statement. The spectrum deals "will allow high-band spectrum licenses to be put to productive use, facilitate the prompt deployment of next-generation wireless services and thus help [the U.S.] lead the world in 5G," emailed an FCC spokeswoman. "Moreover, the consent decree that allowed Straight Path to sell its licenses rather than return them to the Commission was signed" during former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's administration "and no Commissioner objected to it. So any attempt to turn this into a partisan issue is utterly baseless."