T-Mobile: Dish Testimony to CPUC 'False' and 'Irrelevant'

T-Mobile asked to strike a Dish Network official’s testimony at last month’s California Public Utilities Commission hearing on the wireless carrier’s planned CDMA shutdown (see 2109210040). T-Mobile filed a motion Wednesday in docket A.18-07-012 to remove from the record Sept. 20 testimony by Dish Executive Vice President-External and Legal Affairs Jeffrey Blum, who was the satellite company’s only witness. Blum’s testimony was “irrelevant” to issues raised by the CPUC’s order to show cause, T-Mobile said. “He did nothing more than offer his own personal opinion about how to interpret agreements between the parties and testimony from the prior proceedings.” Blum gave “false testimony ... including fabricated assertions about a three-year CDMA maintenance commitment, and abused the process of this Commission and other government agencies in a bad-faith attempt to hold T-Mobile to this non-existent commitment,” it said: T-Mobile was denied due process because its cross-examination of Blum was “abruptly cut short” when the hearing ended. T-Mobile Technology President Neville Ray "repeatedly testified about a three year migration period during the CPUC’s review of the merger," and the carrier negotiated for an option to lease back 800 MHz spectrum for an extra two years, a Dish spokesperson emailed: "Instead of making meritless claims, T-Mobile should focus on upholding the promises made under oath and ensuring low-income consumers won't be disenfranchised" by a Jan. 1 CDMA shutdown.