Dish Network urged the FCC to deny NTCH’s...

Dish Network urged the FCC to deny NTCH’s request to review Dish’s waiver regarding operations of its AWS-4 spectrum. “NTCH does not, and cannot, explain why it is harmed in any way by the flexibility and additional buildout time provided by Dish,” said the direct broadcast satellite company in an opposition filing in docket 13-225 (http://bit.ly/1f2gUlT). It said NTCH mischaracterizes Dish’s H-block bidding commitment, the Wireless Bureau’s decision and commission precedent. Dish said its interest in the H-block auction “was related to the requested flexibility for the lower AWS-4 band.” Absent the flexibility that was granted, Dish isn’t able to fully utilize the lower AWS-4 band in the uplink direction given that the adjacent H block is planned for downlink use, it said. The bureau’s inclusion of the H-block bidding commitment in its public interest analysis was hardly unprecedented, the company said. It said that in 1995, “the commission cited MCI’s commitment to bid $175 million for Advanced’s DBS channels, if the FCC chose to reclaim them.” NTCH claimed that the waiver gives Dish an unfair advantage in the H-block auction, which began Jan. 22 (CD Jan 24 p10).