Republican lawmakers protest spectrum plan

Several lawmakers protested a spectrum auction proposal from the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), saying his plan could limit the number of bidders and raise costs to consumers.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s plan would require winners of part of the 700MHz band of spectrum, to be auctioned by early next year, to accept any wireless devices, including phone handsets, allowing customers to transfer devices between mobile providers. Martin’s plan would also include net neutrality-like rules, prohibiting auction winners from blocking or slowing Web content from other providers.

But several members of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, many of them Republicans, questioned Martin’s proposed rules, which have support of the majority of the FCC.

Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, said he was “very disappointed” that fellow Republican Martin was proposing regulations for part of the 60MHz of spectrum to be auctioned. Some proposals by consumer groups and Frontline Wireless would also require auction winners to provide wholesale access to competitors, and Barton praised Martin for not including that provision.

“It’s not quite as bad as the Frontline plan, but I don’t think it’s as good as absolute no-condition auction,” Barton said.

Many Republicans suggested that auction conditions would decrease the value of the spectrum. Congress has budgeted the auction to raise $10 billion with about half of that going toward reducing the U.S. government budget deficit. “Congress has already spent that money,” said Representative Charles Gonzalez, a Texas Democrat.

Questions about Martin’s proposal came from a handful of Democrats. Representative John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the full House Energy and Commerce Committee, asked FCC commissioners whether the device-portability rules would increase the cost of wireless phone plans.

Customers want to be able to take their mobile phones with them when they switch carriers, but carriers generally haven’t offered that option, Martin said. “I think the benefits outweigh the costs and concerns,” he said.

Barton suggested that winning bidders could implement the device-portability and net neutrality proposals without FCC mandate. Google has indicated it could bid billions of dollars, Barton noted.

“Why shouldn’t we just let Google bid?” Barton said. “If they’ve got a better idea, why don’t they go into the marketplace and bid their four or five billion dollars?”

There’s customer demand for device portability, but carriers haven’t acted on it, Martin said. Wireless carriers didn’t offer phone number portability until the FCC forced them to in late 2003, then millions of U.S. residents took advantage of it, he said.

Asked whether they supported Martin’s proposals, the FCC’s two Democrats said they did, while the two other Republicans said they hadn’t made their minds up yet. “Please let me keep my phone and let me take it wherever I want,” said subcommittee chairman Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat.

The so-called open-access rules are necessary for new broadband competition to challenge cable and telecom providers, said FCC commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat.

The 700MHz auction is the last major spectrum auction on the horizon, many participants said. “This is one proceeding where we cannot fail,” Copps said.

Some lawmakers suggested Martin’s proposal doesn’t go far enough. Representative Charles “Chip” Pickering, a Mississippi Republican, called on the FCC to require wholesale access rules as well. Wholesale access would allow new and innovative services to flourish on the networks using the spectrum, he said.

Martin’s plan would “enhance markets and competition,” he added.