Lawmakers ask FCC to delay auction procedures vote

Two key lawmakers are asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to delay a Thursday vote related to procedures for 2016’s planned wireless spectrum auction.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chair Greg Walden (R-Ore.) took issue with the commission’s decision to add information to the item’s record within a week of the vote.

{mosads}On Friday, the FCC added data from a simulation of possible outcomes from the auction. They also waived the sunshine period related to the item.

“The revised timeline and additional data place into the record limits the commissioner’s’ ability to participate during the open meeting or make an informed vote, casting a shadow over an innovative and novel auction that could be this commission’s legacy,” the two lawmakers wrote to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.

“We urge the commission to remedy this error in process by delaying the commission vote to [a] later date,” they said.

On Thursday, the FCC plans to set the stage for the 2016 spectrum auction by voting on three items related to the proceedings.

In addition to the procedures public notice, they will consider Wheeler’s recommendation that the amount of spectrum set aside for small wireless providers stay at 30 MHz. T-Mobile and others have requested that the reserve be expanded to 40 MHz.

Finally, they will vote on a set of reforms proposed by Wheeler to a program that gives discounts on spectrum to small businesses. DISH obtained billions of dollars in discounts by bidding through two smaller companies in the last spectrum auction, prompting an outcry and congressional scrutiny.

The auction in early 2016 will be the first in which wireless airwave licenses are bought back from broadcasters and then sold to wireless providers.