Sprint Urges FCC Not To Delay H Block Auction

On July 15, 2013 the Federal Communications Commission announced its intention to hold an auction of licenses in the 1915-1920 MHz (Lower H Block) and 1995-2000 MHz (Upper H Black) bands. The auction is set for January 2014 and Sprint believes the FCC should keep the auction as schedule. However, T-Mobile US Inc. and Dish Network Corporation is pushing for the FCC to consider waiting until later in 2014 to hold the auction so that additional frequencies will be available and can attract more money.

In a January auction, “It is possible that only one bidder will participate,” T-Mobile, the fourth-largest U.S. mobile provider, told the FCC in an August filing.

In an auction like this, carriers like to buy adjacent frequencies so they can deploy a single channel. There is no hard evidence that pushing the auction date back a few months will increase government revenues. Companies aren’t required to disclose whether or not they are participating in the auction until the filing deadline.

According to the FCC, “To get filing instructions, filers should send an e-mail to ecfs@fcc.gov, and include the following words in the body of the message: ‘get form.’ A sample form and directions will be sent in response.”