FCC Spectrum Rules: Google, CTIA, AT&T Respond

The rules have been posted by the town sheriff, and all the cowboys are circling around before the big showdown at sunset. Here are some of the latest responses to the Federal Communication Commission’s rules on the 700 MHz spectrum auction:

–Google’s telecom and media counsel Richard Whitt says the FCC has made “real, if incomplete, progress for consumers,” but he does not give a clearer indication of whether Google will end up bidding for spectrum when all is said and done. In a post on the company’s public policy blog, he praises the FCC for supporting the idea of open applications and open devices, two of the four principles that Google and others had been lobbying for in the lead-up to yesterday’s decisions. The other two Google-points had to do with open access–that is allowing wholesale access to the networks for resellers and allowing interconnection–which of course were not included in the FCC’s rules. To this, Whitt writes, “We will need time to carefully study the actual text of the FCC’s rules, due out in a few weeks, before we can make any definitive decisions about our possible participation in the auction.”

–The CTIA in a statement predictably applauded that the FCC has not mandated wholesale access or geographical roll-out of networks, nor restricted the number of auction entrants. But “we are disappointed that a significant portion of this valuable spectrum will be encumbered with mandates that could significantly reduce the number of interested bidders.”

–AT&T, quoted in the New York Times, says it’s happy that the regulator hasn’t stacked “the deck in Google