FCC chief rebuffs wireless auction rule changes

FCC CHIEF REBUFFS WIRELESS AUCTION RULE CHANGES
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Peter Kaplan]
The Federal Communications Commission considered applying its "open-access" conditions to more of the spectrum that it is selling off in next year's auction, but didn't due to concerns from smaller telecommunications companies. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin brushed aside proposals by Verizon Wireless to modify open-platform rules that the agency plans to impose in a January auction of key wireless spectrum. he said the agency would not alter an auction requirement that the winner of the new spectrum must allow consumers to connect using any device or software. "I don't have any plans to try to revise our open-platform rule the way Verizon wants us to," Chairman Martin told reporters outside a congressional hearing. Verizon Wireless filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia September 10 seeking to overturn open-access rules imposed by the FCC. Verizon had sought an expedited hearing, but the court denied the request. In his House Small Business Committee testimony on the auction, Chairman Martin insisted several times that the FCC’s auction rules would give small businesses a chance to acquire licenses because the FCC restricted the geographic size of a license area and provided bidding credits to so-called designated entities that do not have the resources of a large telecommunications carrier. “I think that will allow them to end up competing,” Martin said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN1024940720071010

* FCC Considered Extending Conditions On Spectrum - Martin
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/26615.php?source=rss

* Statement of Chairman Martin Before the House Committee on Small Business
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-277217A1.doc

* FCC Chairman Martin Backs Internet Tax Ban Extension
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin said Wednesday that he supports extending the federal law that bans taxation of high-speed Internet access service provided by cable and phone companies to millions of consumers. “I think that we need do whatever we can to extend the moratorium on Internet taxes for as long as possible,” Martin told reporters after testifying before the House Small Business Committee on FCC rules for a $10 billion spectrum auction set to begin Jan. 24, 2008.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6488767.html

* Martin Pitches Small-Business-Friendly Auction Rules
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6488802.html?rssid=193