A little more than one month after Verizon sued the FCC to overturn the "arbitrary" and "capricious" open access requirements imposed to bidders in the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction, the company yesterday dropped the fight.
Verizon filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss the case in light of a court order that denied an earlier petition by the wireless carrier that sought an expedited review by the court. The rules laid down by the FCC rules require the winner of the of the 22 MHz Upper C Block license to allow any legal handset or software application to be used on the network, regardless of what carrier or broadcaster it might be associated with.
Other companies have voiced objections to the FCC's auction rules as well. AT&T, for instance, has asked for clarification on the requirements for Block "D," while Frontline complained that the FCC's $1.6 billion reserve price for Block "D" is too high for small businesses. In any case, the January 24 spectrum auction has garnered a lot of attention from telecoms and other tech firms. Google in particular said it would bid a minimum of $4.6 billion on spectrum in the auction if the FCC guaranteed open-access requirements.