CCA, CTIA, T-Mobile Attack NAB Repacking Petition

Thursday (see 1703170055). “The relief NAB seeks is not warranted on the merits and, if granted, will frustrate broadband investment and deployment,” said T-Mobile. All three entities attacked NAB’s assertion the FCC didn’t devote enough effort to creating the post-incentive auction transition plan. The broadcast association “can hardly claim that the FCC’s final rulemaking -- the result of which is the product of numerous years of advocacy by a variety of stakeholders -- can reasonably be deemed an ‘afterthought,’ and this assertion should be promptly rejected,” CCA said. Calling the repacking an afterthought “belies the thousands of pages of evidence on the record that Media Bureau carefully analyzed before releasing multiple detailed documents outlining the repacking process,” T-Mobile said. NAB’s claim wireless carriers aren’t truly interested in 600 MHz spectrum “is squarely contradicted by the fact that the auction generated the second most revenue ever for any Commission-held auction,” CTIA said. The wireless entities also condemned the petition as invalid for being late, “more than 900 days past the deadline for reconsideration,” T-Mobile said. NAB’s requested changes to the repacking plan are “based on arguments that either generally overstate the effect on broadcaster relocation or would unnecessarily delay the transition,” CTIA said. The broadcast association “already has tried, and failed, to challenge the Commission’s final rulemaking before both the FCC and the court,” CCA said. “NAB’s petition is an impermissible collateral attack on the 39-month repacking timeline disguised as a petition for reconsideration of the Media Bureau’s Post-Incentive Auction Transition Scheduling Plan,” T-Mobile said.