Previous Story
FCC votes to deny Dish spectrum discount
Posted On Aug 19 2015
Comment: Off
The decision led Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen to shift his tone this month on possibly entering the wireless industry, saying that selling or leasing its airwave holdings might make more sense.
As expected, the FCC has voted to deny bidding credits to two Dish-related companies in the AWS-3 auction of wireless spectrum earlier this year, which raised over $40 billion for various programs and the U.S. treasury. The FCC decision strips SNR and Northstar of the $3.3 billion discount.
It participated via three smaller subsidiaries, two of which – Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless – won frequencies. The FCC also found the management services agreements between Dish and the entities also showed Dish had control, the official said.
The FCC ruled that Douglas County-based Dish (Nasdaq: DISH) owned a controlling interest in both companies.
Following a wave of protest and a government investigation, the FCC concluded that Dish’s bidding practices violated the spirit of the AWS-3 auction, and a draft order denying the discounts was circulated among the commissioners.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will not allow DISH Network to capitalize on a $3.3 billion taxpayer-funded discount it claimed to purchase wireless licenses earlier this year, after the agency ruled that the company does not qualify as a small business. The entities can file a request for reconsideration or make a judicial appeal within 30 days of the FCC’s decision.
Dish said in a statement that while it “has a tremendous amount of respect for the FCC commissioners and staff, and we appreciate their hard work on this matter” it is “respectfully disappointed” with the decision. “We will the review the order when it becomes available, as we consider our options going forward”, said Dish’s general counsel, R. Stanton Dodge.
Dish and the two companies were among the winners of January’s record-setting $44.9 billion airwaves auction with combined bids of $13.3 billion – a sum that would have dropped to $10 billion with the discounts.
