Spectrum license distribution scrutinized

[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
FCC auction rules aim to set aside some spectrum just for small businesses. The idea: to keep the licenses affordable by barring big wireless carriers from participating. Why? Because small and minority entrepreneurs tend to serve lower-income, rural and other markets often neglected by the big carriers. But a chorus of entrepreneurs and officials are complaining of abuse in the federal initiative, accusing some small businesses of being “fronts” for larger investors, many of which are national cellphone companies that don't need the handouts. Criticism of the small-business initiative has raged since the FCC started auctioning airwaves in the mid-1990s. But with a nationwide auction in June scheduled to raise about $15 billion, the FCC might be poised to act. The commission this month tentatively proposed prohibiting small entrepreneurs backed by big wireless partners from receiving bidding discounts.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060213/spectrum13.art.htm