T-Mobile, Verizon Exchange Blows on Incentive Auction Trigger
Without the proper reserve spectrum trigger, AT&T and Verizon could easily “foreclose” the ability of competitive carriers to buy licenses in the TV incentive auction, T-Mobile warned in a letter to the FCC. “AT&T and Verizon will benefit financially if…
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they can delay the spectrum-reserve trigger,” T-Mobile said. “Bidding on all blocks, including the reserve blocks, will continue to increase after the spectrum-reserve trigger is met so long as demand exceeds supply.” If the reserve “successfully encourages AT&T and Verizon to bid only fair market value as opposed to the foreclosure value they would gain from excluding competitors from acquiring the low- band spectrum necessary for competition, no differential between reserve and non-reserve prices should exist at all.” Verizon made a filing of its own Thursday, slamming T-Mobile's pursuit of a revised trigger. The trigger T-Mobile wants would "jeopardize the auction, by shielding bidders for set-aside spectrum from fully competitive bidding before the auction raises enough money to cover all expenses," Verizon said. "It would tilt the auction rules further in their favor. And by triggering the set aside when prices reach $2.00 in the largest 40 markets, an arbitrary figure that is not grounded in market data, the proposal would allow T-Mobile and others to win spectrum at even lower prices." Both filings were in docket 14-252.