WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association continued its fight to have the spectrum cap removed. In a petition for reconsideration filed last week at the Federal Communications Commission, CTIA said it was patently inappropriate for government to keep the cap in place.
The cap says telecom carriers cannot control more than 45 megahertz of spectrum in a given market. CTIA believes the wireless industry is competitive enough that the spectrum cap should not be enforced. The FCC in September slightly modified the cap by allowing carriers in rural areas to control up to 55 megahertz of spectrum.
The Personal Communications Industry Association said CTIA’s petition did not present any new arguments. “Where’s the beef? They present no new data. The [FCC] relied on the state of this market based on statistics, facts and studies … We would have welcomed new data showing growth in market share in personal communications service, instead of empty rhetoric,” said Brent Weingardt, PCIA vice president for government relations.
