Frontline Wireless wants the FCC Wireless Bureau to put two check...
Frontline Wireless wants the FCC Wireless Bureau to put two check-off boxes on its 700 MHz auction short-form. The boxes would let would-be bidders alert commission staff that, if successful, they will have more than 70 MHz in a…
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single market or more than 45 MHz below 1 GHz in a single market, it said in a filing late Friday. The move would help show “which applications merit particular scrutiny,” said Frontline. The agency rejected “an absolute bar” on carriers whose holdings would exceed the 70 MHz limit if successful in the 700 MHz auction, said Frontline, “but it did not give incumbents carte blanche to acquire spectrum without regards to competitive concerns. And it did not, and could not, diminish, let alone discharge, the commission’s obligation to engage in a public interest review.” According to Frontline, AT&T already holds 70 or more megahertz of spectrum in five markets; if it gets the 10 MHz D-block nationwide license it will exceed the 70 MHz threshold in 61 markets. Verizon, at 70 or more megahertz in seven markets, will cross the 70 MHz line in 20 markets if it wins the D-block license, Frontline said. “Acquisitions of spectrum licenses that threaten to create or enhance market power will violate the antitrust laws in the same manner as a merger of horizontal competitors,” it said.