David Honig

There’s no such thing as a “new” idea, said Mark Twain. In the Federal Communications Commission World there really isn’t because someone thought of almost every great new idea 50 years earlier. That someone was the FCC world’s Visionary-in-Chief, former FCC General Counsel and National Telecommunications & Information Administration Director Henry Geller. On April 7, at the age of 96, Henry passed away. Who in their field has matched what Henry accomplished in ours? Irving Berlin (songs). James Brown (dances). Abe Lincoln (oratory).

Although newer technologies have captured the public’s imagination and purse, the Federal Communications Commission continues to regard free over-the-air broadcasting as the lifeline for millions of Americans. Certainly, the deliberate exclusion of people of color from ownership of the airwaves would be profoundly anti-competitive. What could be a more inefficient deployment of resources than having the entrepreneurial, managerial, and creative wealth of one-third of the country unable to find expression in the nation’s most influential industries?

This White Paper outlines four incentives to cultivate minority ownership of commercial wireless spectrum. The Multicultural Media Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) calls for both Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to develop market-based incentives that advance competition and innovation, while increasing minority and women entrepreneurship in the wireless communications space, especially in spectrum licenses and the operations of assets.

1. Restore and refine the Tax Certificate Policy for immediate application to secondary market transactions, enabling sellers to defer payment of the capital gains taxes on the sale upon reinvestment in comparable property. (This initiative requires legislation.)
2. Consider voluntary secondary market transactions with minority business enterprises (“MBEs”) and women-owned business enterprises (“WBEs”), collectively MWBEs, as factors in determining whether to report to Congress that the mobile wireless marketplace is competitive. This initiative can be adopted by the FCC under its existing statutory authority.
3. Incorporate voluntary secondary market transactions with MWBEs as part of mergers and acquisitions regulatory review, including whether to give carrier rule waivers relating to ownership. (This initiative can be adopted by the FCC under its existing statutory authority.)
4. Award carriers a bidding credit when, or after, they engage in voluntary secondary market transactions with MWBEs in wireless auctions. (This initiative can be adopted by the FCC under its existing statutory authority.)