FCC Wireless Auction Faulted

A chorus of critics begs to differ with the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. 15 years combined. But a wave of revisionist thinking is beginning to wash over that sanguine view. Some lawmakers insist tighter regulation is needed to undo what they consider the auction's damage. In a recent congressional hearing, Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.)

Charles Dickens to describe the auction. It was "the best of auctions and the worst of auctions," he said. Martin rejects that view and on Apr.

Thanks to the requirement that winners of part of the spectrum open their network to competing handsets and features, "consumers will be able to use the wireless device of their choice and download whatever legal software or applications they choose," Martin said. Duopoly Redux? But at what price?

The open-access conditions may have deterred some bidders and deprived taxpayers of an extra $5 billion in funds, according to an estimate by Coleman Bazelon, a former congressional budget office analyst who is a principal at consultancy Brattle Group. More vexing still for critics is that the auction's biggest winners were carriers that already dominate the industry.

AT&T and Verizon Wireless already control 75% of the country's total wireless service revenues and nearly 53% of U.S. AT&T and Verizon have solidified their lead," says Blair Levin, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus and a former FCC chief of staff. The auction reinforced the existing dynamics of the top two getting stronger." The two carriers spent more than $16 billion, or 85% of all money raised in the sale of airwaves in the 700Mhz band.

AT&T and Verizon Wireless appear to have accumulated more than 95Mhz of spectrum in more than a dozen markets, analysts say. The concentration has renewed debate over whether the government should impose caps on how much spectrum a single carrier can own in a given market. PROVE The Business Value Of Your IT Portfolio Forrester Evaluates Four Methods Used To Measure The Business Value Of IT.

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