Heck of a Job, Marty

[Commentary] The FCC recently raised a record $19 billion in an auction for rights to the nation's airwaves. While this sounds like another successful commission auction, it was not. The rules written by the FCC Chairman, Kevin Martin, failed to achieve what previous auctions have: increased competition in the wireless industry. Rather, the results of this auction are that the nation's two biggest wireless companies -- AT&T and Verizon, with half the current mobile phone market between them -- purchased more than two-thirds of all the spectrum rights sold. That outcome will decrease competition going forward. According to the FCC, the wireless licenses sold in the auction will provide the foundation for introducing new technologies -- capable of providing broadband, video, gaming and other bandwidth-intensive services -- for at least the next 10 years. That's why a broad range of firms lobbied the FCC to write rules favorable to them. Last summer, Chairman Martin stated that spurring competition was one of his goals for this auction. But instead of the promised pro-competitive rules, he implemented a political compromise that favored select firms even before the auction began. Proving that the past may indeed be prologue, the lasting effect of this auction will be the establishment of a next-generation wireless broadband market likely dominated by two familiar giants -- AT&T and Verizon -- with numerous smaller spectrum-constrained players unable to provide truly competitive alternatives. All said, the latest FCC auction is an inglorious end to what has been a bright spot in government regulatory policy. Auctions have been an effective way to distribute spectrum licenses to build a competitive wireless industry and at the same time generate a fair return to the public. Returning the wireless industry to the same firms that dominated the cellular market before the first FCC auctions will be one of Chairman Martin's sad legacies.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6548218.html?q=Bazelon