Will Dish Pay More for AWS-3 Spectrum, or Lose It?

In yet another example of how regulatory policies are shaping U.S. communication markets, the

Federal Communications Commission has been investigating whether spectrum won by Dish Network Corp. affiliates actually are eligible for bidding discounts that would save the bidding entities about $3.3 billion in fees.

What might happen to the spectrum is the issue. If the FCC decides the bidding entities must pay the full price, they would have to come with an additional $3.3 billion or lose the spectrum.

SNR Wireless and Northstar Wireless are affiliates of Dish Network, as Dish owns 85 percent of each of the two firms.

The FCC has yet to approve the discounts  and may decide the companies aren't eligible for the discounts.

Some estimate the total value of Dish Network mobile spectrum at $39 billion.

But there could be some possibility the winning bids could be disallowed, one might speculate. Verizon, for example, has alleged antitrust violations in the Dish, Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless bidding patterns.

Separately, Sprint, T-Mobile US and Dish Network have asked the FCC to reserve fully half the spectrum in the planned 600-MHz auctions for “smaller carriers.”

Some--including at least one FCC commissioner--have argued that doing so will cause the auction either to raise less money, or lead to the release of less spectrum for bidding, because the spectrum reserves will low the value of the spectrum. Broadcasters who own the spectrum licenses might simply hold onto them, instead of putting the spectrum up for bid.