WASHINGTON-A federal court of appeals has denied an emergency motion for a stay filed by
Small Business in Telecommunications designed to stop the 800 MHz relocation process, which began on March 4.
The U.S. court of appeals “mistakenly accepted the [Federal Communications Commission’s] argument that the
motion was, in fact, a writ of mandamus, seeking a decision directing the FCC do something with its administrative
docket. In fact, the motion did not ask for that relief,” said Robert Schwaniger, SBT general counsel.
SBT
sought to have the relocation process stopped until the FCC resolved what it said are “hundreds upon hundreds of
petitions, motions, finder’s preference matters and challenges which have, in some cases, been before the FCC for over
five years.”
The Personal Communications Industry Association supported SBT’s similar motion before the
FCC but did not join in the emergency motion before the appeals court, SBT said.