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T-Mobile Urges Changes to Incentive Auction Rules

T-Mobile officials and economists working for the carrier met with FCC staff to urge changes to rules for the TV incentive auction, said a filing by the company in docket 12-269, posted Friday. T-Mobile flagged “the potential for interplay between…

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the proposed structure of the extended rounds and the spectrum reserve in certain scenarios with high spectrum-clearing targets,” said the filing. “Under the current proposal, a large differential between bid prices and reverse-auction expenses could theoretically eliminate the spectrum reserve in the extended round and subsequent rounds despite exceptionally robust bidding by reserve-eligible bidders. The parties discussed technical solutions to avoid this outcome, which they said is most likely to occur in early rounds of bidding." The Competitive Carriers Association, meanwhile, reported on a second meeting with Gary Epstein and Howard Symons of the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force and Roger Sherman, chief of the Wireless Bureau, also about the incentive auction. Officials from Sprint and T-Mobile were also at the meeting, said a second filing in the same docket. “CCA discussed the competitive need for low-band spectrum and the critical importance of holding the incentive auction as quickly as possible.”