Frontline Wireless this week filed a petition asking the FCC to lower the minimum prices for spectrum licenses in its upcoming auction of 700 MHz spectrum.

"The FCC established minimum prices - or 'reserve prices' - for each of the five spectrum blocks up for bid," explains InternetNews' Caron Carlson. "If a reserve price isn't met during bidding, the block is re-auctioned without the service conditions attached to it in the original auction. In the case of the highly coveted C Block, the FCC set a reserve price of $4.6 billion, with service conditions that include open platform provisions requiring the spectrum winner to allow customers to use the devices and software applications of their choice."

Frontline says the "without the service conditions" clause makes abuse likely. "According to the company, bidders can undermine the open platform provisions from the outset by avoiding aggressive bidding in the initial auction, which would lead to a re-auction without the conditions," Carlson writes.

"Frontline is also worried that the spectrum auction could result in 'excessive wireless and broadband consolidation' should an incumbent like AT&T or Verizon emerge with a significant chunk of the 700 MHz spectrum," notes Ars Technica's Eric Bangeman. "The company believes that no single carrier should control more than 45 MHz of 'beachfront' spectrum."

More here from PC World ... more here from mocoNews ... more here from Electronista ... more here from Unstrung ... more here from TMCnet ... and the press release and FCC petition are here.