WASHINGTON, D.C. – According to Kathleen Ham, vice-president of federal regulatory affairs for number four U.S. wireless provider T-Mobile, the Federal Communications Commission should look to the results of Canada’s 700 MHz wireless auction for instruction.
In a blog-post on February 28, Ham noted that “adopting reasonable spectrum aggregation limits is the best possible approach to maintaining a healthy, competitive wireless industry.” As readers and other industry watchers here will recall, Industry Canada placed limits on the amount of spectrum our established big three, Rogers, Telus and Bell could acquire in the auction which just wrapped up.
“The Canadian government ruled last year that it would take into account the relative utility of below-1 GHz spectrum compared to above-1 GHz spectrum when determining whether the transfer of a spectrum license could harm competition. The new rules applied to spectrum acquired during the recently-concluded low-band 700 MHz auction, to which the regulator, Industry Canada, also applied spectrum aggregation limits in an effort to meet its policy goals of “sustained competition”, “robust investment and innovation” and increased access for all Canadians,” she wrote.
“(S)imilar to the auction structure T-Mobile and other competitive carriers have proposed in the United States, the largest spectrum holders had ample opportunity to participate, but the smaller carriers were given a meaningful chance to purchase valuable low-band spectrum at auction.
“Just as in the United States, the debate prior to the Canadian auction was fraught with false assumptions and speculation about the supposedly deleterious effects of applying spectrum limits on auction participation and revenues. Now that the auction is over, we can see the hype for what it was – scare tactics by the dominant incumbents aimed at convincing regulators not to take reasonable steps to correct a serious low-band spectrum imbalance.”
Read the full blog post here.
