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from: Ars Technica

700MHz lobbying: Google good, wireless operators better, Frontline best

By Nate Anderson | Published: August 29, 2007 - 08:49AM CT

Google has stepped up its efforts in Washington, DC over the last few years, and those efforts appear to be paying off. An analysis of lobbying efforts at the FCC this year shows that Google lobbyists managed to record 19 separate phone calls or meetings with FCC staff, including the commissioners themselves—and that's only Google's 700MHz lobbying. But the company's efforts are overshadowed by those of the traditional wireless carriers, which have turned spectrum lobbying into an art form.

The Center for Public Integrity has looked at every ex parte filing that companies must make to the FCC after meeting with or speaking with someone there(read article). The CPI's analysis shows that the 700MHz spectrum auction was (not surprisingly) the most-lobbied issue this year at the agency, especially in the run up to the auction rulemaking a month ago. In total, lobbyists talked with FCC officials about the auction almost 600 times between January and August.

Google chalked up a solid 19 calls or meetings with agency officials, including at least 11 with the commissioners, but incumbent wireless operators went the extra mile here. CTIA, the trade group that represents wireless carriers, spoke with agency officials 43 times. Verizon Wireless managed another 40 conversations on its own. But it was a newcomer, Frontline Wireless, that led all comers with an astonishing 70 FCC contacts. Perhaps it really does help to have two former FCC chairmen on the staff of your new venture?

Lobbying didn't all come from corporations, of course; public interest groups were also heavily invested in the proceedings and participated in numerous meetings with agency staff. When you look at the list of top lobbyists, though, everyone who secured more than 25 meetings with FCC staff represented a corporation (US Cellular), industry consortium (SpectrumCo), or trade group (CTIA).

Among the commissioners, Democrat Jonathan Adelstein held the most meetings with lobbyists (60), while his fellow Democrat Michael Copps had the fewest (25). The three Republicans all occupied the middle ground: McDowell had 43, Tate had 31, and Chairman Kevin Martin had 40.

In the end, no single company got everything it wanted. Google did not get all four open access conditions it requested, but the wireless companies will have to put up with two of them. Frontline did well to convince the FCC to adopt a public/private partnership approach to building an interoperable public safety network, even though Commissioner Copps expressed a strong preference for having the government build and maintain such a network.