WASHINGTON-House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-Va.) last week accused the Federal Communications Commission of concocting a bogus national security issue to avoid attracting public attention to internal negotiations with two politically-connected telecom firms, which led to a 1997 decision to give away 400 megahertz to Teligent Inc. at a time when others were forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for licenses.
“I am troubled by the commission’s apparent attempt to manufacture a national security rationale in order to justify bypassing traditional notice and comment rulemaking, as well as the utter lack of accountability by the commission’s personnel with respect to this important procedural decision,” said Bliley in a July 28 letter to FCC Chairman William Kennard.
Bliley demanded a full account by today of the decision-making process that went into the 1997 ruling to reallocate 400 megahertz in the 24 GHz band to Teligent for wireless local loop service. Teligent’s original 18 GHz licenses were issued before auction rules kicked in.
Kennard was general counsel under former FCC chairman Reed Hundt when the March 1997 decision was adopted.
The FCC got itself into a quagmire a few years ago by promising Teligent and Teledesic Corp. use of the same 18 GHz band, triggering a feud between the two firms about whether sharing the spectrum was possible.
Bliley did not challenge the legality of last year’s Teligent ruling, which the FCC affirmed on July 17, nor did he give any indication that he would attempt to re-open the case or address it legislatively.
Rather, Bliley’s caustic, four-page missive to Kennard appeared to be a chance for the Commerce Committee head to vent anger and serve up a warning to Kennard he would “not tolerate such failures under your chairmanship” in the future.
Bliley, pointing to FCC documents and e-mails, said the FCC decision to bypass public comment in the controversial licensing matter “had more to do with protecting its private agreement with Teledesic and Teligent than with protecting national security.”
Neither Teligent nor the FCC would comment.
In the past, Teligent said Bliley’s probe of Teligent and Teledesic licenses was driven by commercial interests that do not want competition in Bell-dominated local telecom markets.
Bliley was particularly irked by the FCC’s failure to recall who allowed the Teligent case to progress without public comment.
“The commission’s collective memory lapse on this important procedural question is as troubling as it is unacceptable, and highlights a shocking lack of accountability and transparency in agency decision making,” he stated.
