A fair and open spectrum auction for rural America

An editorial from Rick Boucher, former head of the House Telecommunications Subcommittee, took a strong stand on the upcoming spectrum auctions.

“What’s the best approach to achieving the goal of expanded rural service?” asked Boucher. “Don’t restrict the auction by cutting out companies that currently serve rural America and want to expand their presence there.”

Boucher was at least implicitly arguing against FCC Chair Tom Wheeler’s claim that reserving spectrum for companies like Sprint and T-Mobile will spur rural broadband deployment and competition. Boucher, on the other hand, observes that AT&T and Verizon already serve rural American – and Sprint and T-Mobile do not.

The FCC will vote on rules for spectrum auction on May 15, and Boucher was specific about how the auction would best serve rural America:

Unlike Sprint and T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon have stressed that they will use additional spectrum to serve nearly a population of 300,000,000, bringing advanced mobile broadband services to less densely populated areas... Excluding certain companies from the auction in an attempt to engineer greater ‘competition’ isn’t going to work.”

CWA, too, wants a fair and open auction.

Enhancing Mobile Broadband Spectrum in Rural America (Internet Innovation Alliance, May 7, 2014)

Ensuring A Fair And Competitive Incentive Auction (Tom Wheeler FCC blog, Apr. 25, 2014)

House members urge Wheeler to conduct open auction (Speed Matters, Apr. 17, 2014)