Report clears adviser's role in wireless auction

An investigation has cleared Cyren Call, a for-profit adviser of any blame for tripping up U.S. government plans to create a wireless network that could be shared with emergency workers. The Federal Communications Commission's inspector general said on Friday the evidence did not support concerns that the company advising public safety groups had scared away bidders from meeting a $1.3 billion price for the airwaves. "Rather, the many layers of uncertainty and risk, and the growing prospect of high network costs... were responsible for potential bidders' decisions not to bid," said the report by FCC Inspector General Kent Nilsson. Lack of bidder interest in the public safety spectrum was the lone failure in an otherwise successful 700-megahertz auction that raised over $19 billion by the time it ended in March. The FCC is now studying plans to re-auction the public safety airwaves known as the D-block. Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, said, "[T]his narrow investigation showed that the D-block auction was fatally flawed by terms and conditions set both by the Commission and by the public safety community. The controversial $50 million lease payments suggested by the public-safety community to potential bidders were only one factor. While the Inspector General found that none of this was against the rules, the conclusion needs to be drawn that the auction was doomed to failure. The Commission should take a more active role in future auctions to make certain public safety receives the spectrum it deserves."
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2537614020080425