Dish Network Is Questioned on Its Use of Bidding Credits in AWS-3 Auction
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai jointly questioned how FCC rules could let Dish Network buy $13.3 billion worth of AWS-3 licenses for $10 billion using bidding credits (see 1502020039). “While most bidders put their own money…
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on the line, some of the largest companies in the auction were using billions of taxpayer dollars. How is that possible?” they asked in an op-ed piece in Thursday's Wall Street Journal. They warned that despite Dish’s alleged manipulation of the designated entity program, the FCC may further loosen DE rules. “What is astonishing about the manipulation of the bidding process is how cavalier the parties are,” they wrote. "The two Dish-related companies -- Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless -- didn’t exist until a few months before the auction, and each reported to the FCC that it was a ‘very small business’ as neither had any gross revenues. Yet together the two companies magically managed to place bids more than seven times those of spectrum-hungry T-Mobile.” The FCC had no comment.