Kennedy 0 #1 July 12, 2004 Just one more reason for me to hate Nextel and the FCC From www.cagw.com Quote(Washington, D.C.) - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named the five commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Porkers of the Month for voting 5-0 to approve a plan to swap airwave spectrum with Nextel Communications at a below-market price. The FCC’s five Porkers are Chairman Michael K. Powell and Commissioners Kathleen Q. Abernathy, Michael J. Copps, Jonathan S. Edelstein, and Kevin J. Martin. The commission agreed to reduce Nextel’s interference with emergency traffic by permitting Nextel to trade some of its less desirable airwaves for airwaves in the 1.9 Gigahertz band. The company will pay its preferred amount of $850 million and set aside a $2.5 billion letter of credit to relocate some public-safety groups to clearer spectrum. The Nextel plan violates FCC policy and federal law that requires new spectrum to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Verizon Wireless has stated that it would open the bidding for the 1.9 GHz spectrum at $5 billion if an auction were held. While the FCC regulators claim to have solved a public safety issue, in reality they capitulated to Nextel’s scheme to obtain contiguous blocks of valuable spectrum at a substantially reduced cost. Nextel is trading its fragmented, non-nationwide spectrum in the 700, 800 and 900 MHz bands, estimated to be worth $1.2 billion, in exchange for prime nationwide spectrum in the valuable 1.9 GHz band, estimated to be worth as much as $7 billion. It is ironic that Nextel is getting nearly a $5 billion windfall to “correct” an interference problem it caused in the first place. In a time of record budget deficits, the FCC is clueless as to how much money an auction would bring in for taxpayers. The swap is a clear example of corporate welfare a sweetheart deal that puts rival carriers at a disadvantage by giving Nextel a valuable public resource for practically nothing. There were several solutions before the FCC that would have addressed the public safety issue while protecting taxpayers. The cellular industry trade group, the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, backs a plan to give Nextel less desirable airwaves in the 2.1 gigahertz frequency at a price of $3 billion. Since Congress gave the FCC the authority to use public auctions for electromagnetic spectrum, the process has returned some $14.4 billion since 1994. Some in Congress have fortunately taken notice of the FCC sticking it to taxpayers. Responding to requests from Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), the General Accounting Office (GAO) decided Tuesday to review whether the FCC's spectrum-exchange proposal violates federal laws against the private sale of public resources. Rep. Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) has introduced H.R. 4715, the Spectrum Accountability Act, to reaffirm the intent of Congress that the FCC should use competitive bidding for the grant of commercial spectrum. In addition, Nextel’s rivals are preparing legal challenges to the FCC decision. For violating the law, approving a corporate welfare giveaway hatched by Nextel, distorting the cellular communications market, and passing up a multi-billion dollar opportunity for taxpayers, CAGW names the Federal Communications Commission its Porker of the Month for July 2004. CAGW's "Porker of the Month" award is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers. Previous recipients of the award include Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.).------------ Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.witty subliminal message Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards. 1* Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheAnvil 0 #2 July 12, 2004 Dude - Arlen Specter should declare himself a leftie. Vinny the Anvil Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL JACKASS POWER!!!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
diablopilot 2 #3 July 12, 2004 I still find it interesting the goverment is auctioning off the "electromagnetic spectrum". I know why and that I benifit from the regulation of it, but....... what's next? Sunlight?---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kennedy 0 #4 July 12, 2004 No, I expect atmosphere will be next, once the environment is screwed up enough to make mechanically cleaning is profitable. After all, they already do it with water. You have any idea what a crime it is to do anything with even a creek or pond? Navigable waterway my ass.witty subliminal message Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards. 1* Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
