FCC should end industrial policy that favors satellites and begin...
FCC should end industrial policy that favors satellites and begin to regulate all similar services seeking to use same spectrum from same rulebook, Northpoint CEO Sophia Collier wrote in Wed. letter to Chmn. Powell. Collier said single rulebook system…
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would simplify proceedings: “It would allow the Commission to stop being in the business of picking a winner and start to license companies in a technology- neutral manner.” She said ending that regulatory disparity was particularly important given reduced competitive environment that would result if EchoStar-DirecTV merger were approved. In DBS-Northpoint debate, she said, “preference given to the satellite industry has resulted in extraordinary market distortion.” Northpoint said it applied for license on same day as 8 satellite companies that sought 25,400 MHz of spectrum and would receive licenses without auction. Collier said FCC granted 10,259 wireless licenses in 2001 for mobile and fixed microwave services without auction. Process of spectrum allocation seems arbitrary and discriminates against small companies and new technologies, Collier said: “It cannot be considered desirable for the government to allow one company free use of a federal resource and then expect a new entrant and future competitor to pay to use the same resources.”