NEWS: Frontline Wireless bombs out

<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/08/frontline_wireless_shuts_shop/>

Only Google can save the airwaves

Frontline Wireless, the uber-startup that was poised to lay down a
bid for a prime portion of the US wireless spectrum, now says it's
"closed for business".

...

The news will come as a shock to anyone who's followed the brouhaha
over the so-called 700-MHz spectrum, a slice of wireless bandwidth
due to be auctioned off by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) later this month.

Little more than a month ago, when Frontline officially joined the
list of bidders for the spectrum, the company told us it was "bidding
to win". But on January 4, bidders were required to fork over an
"upfront payment" prior to the actual auction, and you have to wonder
if Frontline was able to pay up.

Backed by a former FCC chairman and another Washington insider who
once led the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) under President George H.W. Bush, Frontline was
one of the main reasons - along with Google - that the FCC attached
an "open access" requirement to the 700-MHz auctions.

...

With Frontline out of the running, hope for a truly open network now
lies with Google. And putting all our eggs in Google's basket makes
us feel a little, well, uneasy.

[MORE]

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

John Navas <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed):

> bidders were required to fork over an
> "upfront payment" prior to the actual auction, and you have to wonder
> if Frontline was able to pay up.
>

This was setup by the big boys to keep the little guys from bidding....same
as Broadcasting. Big corporations with BIG, DEEP pockets full of money for
political hacks to be paid from is all Washington is about.

Larry
--
As the price of Monopoly money rises, at some point it will equal
Federal Reserve Private Bank fake banknotes in value!

On Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:24:21 +0000, Larry <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
<Xns9A1FD0109695Dnoonehomecom@208.49.80.253>:

>John Navas <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
>news:(E-Mail Removed) :
>
>> bidders were required to fork over an
>> "upfront payment" prior to the actual auction, and you have to wonder
>> if Frontline was able to pay up.

>This was setup by the big boys to keep the little guys from bidding....same
>as Broadcasting. Big corporations with BIG, DEEP pockets full of money for
>political hacks to be paid from is all Washington is about.

Not so:
* Auctioning spectrum ensures the most efficient use of that spectrum.
* Up front cash is just prudent auction practice, to avoid disruption of
the auction process by those that can't really afford to bid.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

In <(E-Mail Removed)> John Navas <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
[ snip ]

>>This was setup by the big boys to keep the little guys from bidding....same
>>as Broadcasting. Big corporations with BIG, DEEP pockets full of money for
>>political hacks to be paid from is all Washington is about.

>Not so:
>* Auctioning spectrum ensures the most efficient use of that spectrum.
>* Up front cash is just prudent auction practice, to avoid disruption of
>the auction process by those that can't really afford to bid.

or... to prevent a repeat of the debacle with NextWave,
which bid oodles of money last time around, didn't pay up,
and somehow got the US Supreme Court to rule that they
still "owned" the unpaid for frequencies.


--
__________________________________________________ ___
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
(E-Mail Removed)
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

John Navas <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed):

> Not so:
> * Auctioning spectrum ensures the most efficient use of that spectrum.
> * Up front cash is just prudent auction practice, to avoid disruption of
> the auction process by those that can't really afford to bid.
>
>

So:
Auctioning spectrum should be forbidden. It's NOT the government's
airwaves, it's the PUBLIC's. They don't auction off Yellowstone National
Park to Holiday Inn, because Yellowstone belongs to the PUBLIC, dammit.
This bullshit of selling the PUBLIC's airwaves to shore up the bloating
government bureaucracy of the Illuminati ISN'T why the FCC was created. It
all happened when the greedy lawyers ran the engineers, who made America's
wireless systems so great, out of the FCC and took over. Now, everything's
for sale before the government finally bankrupts the country giving
everything we have to the international bankers.

Once FCC loses control of frequencies that "belong" to someone else,
consumer protection stops....exactly what corporate America has been after
since the first radio station came on the air.

Larry
--
As the price of Monopoly money rises, at some point it will equal
Federal Reserve Private Bank fake banknotes in value!

Larry wrote:
> So:
> Auctioning spectrum should be forbidden. It's NOT the government's
> airwaves, it's the PUBLIC's. They don't auction off Yellowstone National
> Park to Holiday Inn, because Yellowstone belongs to the PUBLIC, dammit.
> This bullshit of selling the PUBLIC's airwaves to shore up the bloating
> government bureaucracy of the Illuminati ISN'T why the FCC was created. It
> all happened when the greedy lawyers ran the engineers, who made America's
> wireless systems so great, out of the FCC and took over. Now, everything's
> for sale before the government finally bankrupts the country giving
> everything we have to the international bankers.
>
> Once FCC loses control of frequencies that "belong" to someone else,
> consumer protection stops....exactly what corporate America has been after
> since the first radio station came on the air.
>
> Larry


Y'all don't understand. It's the Dumbyican "free market" way...

You lost me at "Illuminati".

----


~ John Navas <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
~ news:(E-Mail Removed):
~
~ > Not so:
~ > * Auctioning spectrum ensures the most efficient use of that spectrum.
~ > * Up front cash is just prudent auction practice, to avoid disruption of
~ > the auction process by those that can't really afford to bid.
~ >
~ >
~
~ So:
~ Auctioning spectrum should be forbidden. It's NOT the government's
~ airwaves, it's the PUBLIC's. They don't auction off Yellowstone National
~ Park to Holiday Inn, because Yellowstone belongs to the PUBLIC, dammit.
~ This bullshit of selling the PUBLIC's airwaves to shore up the bloating
~ government bureaucracy of the Illuminati ISN'T why the FCC was created. It
~ all happened when the greedy lawyers ran the engineers, who made America's
~ wireless systems so great, out of the FCC and took over. Now, everything's
~ for sale before the government finally bankrupts the country giving
~ everything we have to the international bankers.
~
~ Once FCC loses control of frequencies that "belong" to someone else,
~ consumer protection stops....exactly what corporate America has been after
~ since the first radio station came on the air.
~
~ Larry

Aaron Leonard <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed):

> You lost me at "Illuminati".
>
> -

You need to come out from under that rock more often.



Larry
--
As the price of Monopoly money rises, at some point it will equal
Federal Reserve Private Bank fake banknotes in value!

John Navas wrote:
> On Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:24:21 +0000, Larry <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> <Xns9A1FD0109695Dnoonehomecom@208.49.80.253>:
>
>> John Navas <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
>> news:(E-Mail Removed):
>>
>>> bidders were required to fork over an
>>> "upfront payment" prior to the actual auction, and you have to wonder
>>> if Frontline was able to pay up.
>
>> This was setup by the big boys to keep the little guys from bidding....same
>> as Broadcasting. Big corporations with BIG, DEEP pockets full of money for
>> political hacks to be paid from is all Washington is about.
>
> Not so:
> * Auctioning spectrum ensures the most efficient use of that spectrum.

Not really - the 3G auction in the UK is a case in point. The spectrum
is sitting empty, and likely to remain so, because nobody was interested
in buying the overpriced services the auction "winners" wanted to sell....

> * Up front cash is just prudent auction practice, to avoid disruption of
> the auction process by those that can't really afford to bid.

Thats the spin, certainly. The reality is that the upfront cash rule
sets a barrier to participation and allows those who /are/ in to pay
less as there's less competition.


--
Mark McIntyre

CLC FAQ <http://c-faq.com/>
CLC readme: <http://www.ungerhu.com/jxh/clc.welcome.txt>

Mark McIntyre wrote:

> The reality is that the upfront cash rule
> sets a barrier to participation and allows those who /are/ in to pay
> less as there's less competition.
>

While making it appear to conform to institutional "free market" policy.