Earlier this week we learned that the FCC planned to cancel a meeting in which the commission would vote on the AWS-3 spectrum, a/k/a/ white spaces. This would be the first step in providing free broadband Internet across about 95 percent of the country. Upon hearing of the cancellation, two congressmen wrote the two Democratic commissioners urging them to vote with Chairman Kevin Martin on the issue. Apparently this would make a vote “in circulation.” I’m not quite sure what that means, but it appears that the FCC can still do something about this issue.
There’s also an issue of the Communications Act (which I assume is the Communications Act of 1934 as amended by the Telecom Act of 1996). It sets out deadlines for votes, and a number of bodies cite that it required the commission to vote by September 6. Clearly, they blew that deadline. The considerable pressure against the auction plays a big role in why there has been no vote. T-Mobile is one of the largest detractors, as they still claim it would interfere with the AWS-1 spectrum, despite tests which suggest otherwise.
M2Z CEO John Muleta said in an interview with FierceWireless that M2Z defers to the members of Congress in their interpretation of the law, but would like to see a decision made on the AWS-3 spectrum.
“Our interest is that this spectrum has been lying fallow for close to 17 years and the commission hasn’t made up its mind and I don’t think the public interest is served by this kind of delay,” he said.
It still sounds like this won’t happen until at least next year.
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