According to sources inside and outside the FCC, all five
commissioners have now cast their votes on Verizon/SpectrumCo, and it will be
5-0 approving Verizon's purchase of spectrum from cable operators Comcast, Time
Warner Cable, Cox and Bright House, with the two Republicans concurring in
part.
According to a source who had seen the voting record,
Democratic Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn have joined the
others in okaying the deal, though both were said to be working on statements
at presstime, so the order may not be released until late Wednesday or
Thursday.
While the vote was 5-0, the two Republicans concurred--stopping short of approving--a data roaming obilgation in the order, as well the FCC's authority over the marketing agreements, according to sources.
The FCC was said to be working on two big items Wednesday,
the spectrum deal and its inquiry into potential reregulation of the special
access market, with the latter likely to come out Wednesday or Thursday as
well.
The Justice Department has already signed off on the deal,
with conditions that the FCC had a hand in crafting. FCC chairman Julius
Genachowski had signaled he supported the deal with those conditions as a way
to get 20 MHz of spectrum lying fallow in the secondary market into use ASAP
delivering next generation wireless broadband.
The FCC just missed meeting its informal 180-day shot clock
on vetting mergers. That clock was reading 181 days at presstime, but has not
yet been stopped.
