Gomer Pyle: Part Deux
December 15, 2008
Page A18 of the December 11th issue of the Wall Street Journal, The headline read: “Political Favors at the FCC.” Sub heading: “Kevin Martin orders up another rigged spectrum auction.”
Surprise, surprise, surprise … yet another game of Beltway insiders and money-people playing do as I say, not as I do. We have a two tier society in America. The top tier is for the greedy Real Smart Guys (RSGs) and politicians with perceived power and money and the second tier, for us common folk. It is rare a top tier villain goes to prison, but us second tier folks, don’t jaywalk or you will end up in jail.
The Readers Digest version of the story is that FCC Chairman Martin (R) and the venture capital RSG John Doerr of Silicon Valley fame Kleiner Perkins, worked back channels to place terms on the spectrum auction whereby the spectrum in an auction would not be attractive to dominant carriers. The article mentions under the “conditions” placed on the spectrum at auction it would sell for $50 million. However, economists estimate the value to the federal government coffers of $3 billion without said conditions.
Kleiner started a company to pursue this spectrum auction called M2Z. As the articles states:
“M2Z and Mr. Doerr are essentially asking taxpayers to subsidize their attempt to start a new telephone company. Mr. Doerr will have profited from what amounts to a government subsidy via a rigged auction. And if the start-up fails, don’t be surprised if M2Z attempts to sell licenses that it has acquired for a song and reap a windfall.”
For those that want to point political fingers, I suggest you read the article. Both parties are just as guilty as they are in our credit crisis. And, by the way, a company called Frontline also funded by Kleiner Perkins and headed up by former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt(D) failed in a similar scheme this past January.
Now for my soapbox. There will be no outrage over this. There will be no criminal charges. Why? This is top tier money play of influence and power at the expense of the second tier of our society. This is about greed. It’s not about fairness, transparency and equal opportunity. It’s a classic “non-nod, wink-wink inside the corrupt beltway” event.
My advice to CLECs: stop lobbying Congress and the FCC — they don’t give a rat’s ass about what is best for America. Sure they will meet with you and your highly paid lawyers to act interested, but unless you are driving party politics by stature and cash, you are nothing. By the way, what may be good for America may also not be good for CLECs, for the record. But in my naïveté, I actually fantasize that our elected officials and their appointees like Chairman Martin can be objective and not deal in dishonest dealings or dollars.
My fellow CLECs, spend your beltway dollars on infrastructure to gain your independence from ILEC infrastructure (UNE’s, Special Access) and the FCC.
What do you have to say about it? Let Dave know. Email the Straight Shooter or add your comments below.
Written by Dave Rusin - Telecom Executive
Posted by admin | Filed Under American telecom, Dave's Corner, Fiber bandwidth, Telecom USA, Telecom broadband, Telecom news, Telecommunications companies, Telecommunications industry, Telecommunications news, Trends + telecommunications, Trends in telecommunications
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