CTIA Drops Legal Challenge to 700 MHz Auction Rules
CTIA dropped a legal challenge in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to the open access requirements for the 700 MHz C-block that the FCC approved prior to the auction, which got underway in January. In the same court, Council Tree continued its case, which had been combined with the one brought by the CTIA, against the 700 MHz rules. The CTIA asked Friday to be dismissed from the case. The group said it contacted Council Tree, the FCC and intervenors in the case, including Google, the Public Interest Spectrum Coalition, MetroPCS, Skype and the now defunct Frontline Wireless. None of the parties objected, it said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
The CTIA filed the appeal last year as the 700 MHz auction neared, bringing action immediately after Verizon Wireless dropped a legal challenge to the C-block rules. The more general Council Tree challenge originally was filed in the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court in Philadelphia but transferred to the D.C. Circuit. A second Council Tree case, pending in the 3rd Circuit and briefed fully, still must be argued before judges. It challenges FCC designated entity rules and asks the court to overturn the AWS-1 auction results and the entire 700 MHz auction.
The case before the D.C. Circuit challenges only the 700 MHz rules. Council Tree said in a Monday pleading that in giving the FCC auction authority in 1993, Congress required the agency to “take concrete steps to structure these auctions in such a way that they would not be dominated by entrenched, deep-pocketed incumbents at the expense of new entrants, particularly small businesses, minority- and women- owned businesses and rural telephone companies.” But FCC DE rules for the 700 MHz auction virtually guaranteed that only the largest carriers bid, Council Tree said. “DEs won only 2.6 percent of the available spectrum measured by the total value of the net bids,” the company said. “Valuable spectrum not won by DEs fell into the grasp of the powerful, entrenched incumbents.” It was referring to Verizon Wireless and AT&T, which it said purchased more than 84 percent of the available spectrum, measured by net bid value. The pleading cycle in the D.C. Circuit case is to continue through Feb. 17, when final briefs are due.