Consumers Union (CU) and Consumer Federation of America (CFA) urg...

GHz (CD April 9 p1). Verizon Wireless and other wireless carriers have been calling on the FCC to hold an auction for the 10 MHz at 1.9 GHz if it’s part of an 800 MHz rebanding plan. The FCC has been considering a proposal for mitigating public safety interference at 800 MHz. An original staff proposal sent to the 8th floor would reband 800 MHz and give 1.9 GHz to Nextel for a price. Under that original staff proposal, Nextel would have to pay the cost of rebanding incumbents at 800 MHz and then the difference between that and the value assigned to the 1.9 GHz spectrum. “This so-called bid does nothing to advance the cause of eliminating public safety radio interference, and appears to be yet another anti-competitive tactic aimed at delaying a vote on this urgent matter,” CU and CFA said. “Regardless of motive, the Verizon ‘bid’ should be considered non-qualifying because it would unduly concentrate the wireless market horizontally and would represent a significantly increased threat to consumers’ hopes that wireless competes against landline telephone monopolies.” The groups argued that the opening bid promised by Verizon Wireless would lead to “less aggressive” competition between wireless and wireline companies and would be inconsistent with the Communications Act. “Any dominant wireless company’s bid for spectrum should be subjected to the same scrutiny that would be applied for a review of a merger in the wireless market,” CU and CFA said in a letter to Powell. The groups said that because Verizon Wireless has a national market share of nearly 25%, virtually any merger between it and another provider would violate merger guidelines. “Unfortunately, this letter seems to be filed in a proceeding taking place on another planet,” a Verizon Wireless spokesman said: “To paraphrase my mother, if you can’t say something relevant, don’t say anything at all. This is a laundry list of opinions that have nothing to do with the matter at hand, which is to legally and quickly provide public safety with the tools that they need.”