Don't Revisit Decisions on Set-aside for Incentive Auction, Mobile Future Urges FCC

Mobile Future laid down a marker, responding Friday to various FCC filings calling for a larger reserve set-aside for competitive carriers as part of rules for the TV incentive auction. “Restricting competition in the auction through set-asides will result in lower auction proceeds, jeopardizing the Commission’s ability to purchase the maximum amount of spectrum from broadcasters, and leading to less repurposed spectrum to meet skyrocketing consumer demand for mobile broadband,” Mobile Future said. “The issue of whether and how much spectrum to set aside for select carriers was exhaustively debated and decided last year.” Competitive carriers got a set-aside of 30 MHz in every market. Companies including Dish Network, Sprint and T-Mobile “do not need even more protection from bidding competition,” the group said. “Their filings simply revisit already settled policy decisions and fail to present any new facts to support a larger set-aside.”