U.S. FCC set to reject Dish entities' $3.3 billion auction discounts: WSJ

Reuters
A Dish Network logo is seen on a satellite dish on a Brooklyn apartment building roof in New York June 4, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is set to reject $3.3 billion worth of discounts requested by partners of Dish Network Corp, SNR Wireless and NorthStar Wireless, in the government's $45 billion airwave auction earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.

The FCC officials reviewed $13.3 billion of winning bids by the two entities backed by Dish Network and decided that the companies did not qualify for small business discounts, the Journal said. (http://on.wsj.com/1LnBS2g)

The FCC news comes as Dish struggles to convince Deutsche Telekom AG to sell T-Mobile US Inc, according to people familiar with the matter, as the race for U.S. airwaves, on which telecommunication devices ranging from ham radios to smartphones rely on, intensifies.

Dish Network and officials at the FCC declined to comment.

Reuters reported in March that the FCC was planning to change the rules for the government's airwave auction to prevent big companies from tapping a discount program intended for small businesses.

SNR Wireless and Northstar Wireless could not be immediately reached for comment.

(Reporting by Liana Baker in New York, Alina Selyukh in Washington and Rishika Sadam in Bangalore; Editing by Simon Jennings)