December 13, 2008 by James Oliver
It is widely anticipated that a prominent Democratic lawmaker is to request that the FFC (Federal Communications Commission) postpone the vote on a planned radio spectrum auction. The proposal, as it stands, is that eventual buyer would be required to devote a portion (about 25%) of the AWS-3 segment of airwaves to providing free broadband services across the United States. The vote is currently scheduled for next Thursday.
Senator Jay Rockefeller (West Virginia, Democrat) thinks that the FCC should avoid taking up major projects whilst it is overseeing the USA’s switch to digital TV which is happening in February 2009.
A delay in the vote would be hugely popular amongst the numerous mobile phone companies that oppose the deal.
T-Mobile have been the most vocal in their opposition due to their ownership of the adjacent airwave section to AWS-3. They claim that the proposed usage of AWS-3 will cause interference with their segment of airwaves. Their annoyance is understandable, seeing as they paid 4.2 billion for their section relatively recently. However, the FFC contest T-Mobile’s claims, stating that after examining the issue they have found no reason to believe there would be interference issues.
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