WISPAmerica Show Daily Day 2

www. WISPA .org 1 7 www.bekabusinessmedia.com DAY 2 MER C 2018 Verizon to Pay Record Fine over Spectrum Non-Build-Out Advanced free online tool for link planning www.saftehnika.com/en/pathcalculator | salesna@saftehnika.com T he Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined Verizon and one of its subsidiaries $614 million. The government agency said Verizon is paying up for Straight Path Communications’ failure to use spectrum licenses allotted to it by the FCC. The announcement came late last week, on the same day that Verizon completed its acquisition of Straight Path. The fine represents the largest civil penalty for a settlement in the history of the FCC. The FCC said Straight Path possessed more than 1,000 licenses for 28 GHz and 39 GHz millimeter wave spectrum bands, which will be used to deploy 5G. Last year (prior to the acqui- sition announcement) the Chief Enforcement Bureau of the FCC dinged Straight Path for representing itself as fulfilling “build-out require- ments” for the 39 GHz services it was provi- sioned to perform. The two parties settled that case in January 2017. “Straight Path admits that an internal investi- gation determined that the equipment deployed in connection with the build-out of its 39 GHz spectrum band licenses was put in place only for a short period of time and that a signifi- cant amount of the installed equipment was no longer present at the original locations at the time of the investigation. In short, the investi- gation found that Straight Path had not actually deployed equipment with any permanency,” read a statement from the Bureau. Straight Path agreed to sell those licenses and “remit 20 percent of the overall proceeds of the transaction to the U.S. Treasury.” Straight Path paid the treasury $15 million, which is separate from the fine Verizon is shouldering. Verizon purchased Straight Path for $3.1 billion after outbidding AT&T. Verizon targeted Straight Path largely for its hefty amount of spectrum. A Verizon spokesperson would not comment on the fine to Reuters, saying that “the settlement resolved conduct from before Verizon’s announced acquisition.” m Attendees enjoy the generous lunch on the expo floor during Day 1.