T-Mobile: FCC auction rules that limit AT&T, Verizon will be a boon for competition

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The lobbying fight is heating up over whether the Federal Communications Commission will approve rules that could limit how much spectrum Verizon Wireless and AT&T can bid on in the 2015 incentive auction of 600 MHz broadband spectrum.

T-Mobile US has fired the latest salvo, arguing that the FCC has the authority to issue such rules and that they will enhance competition, not lead to the failure of the auction. Verizon and AT&T have said in their recent filings to the commission that they are going to fight any rules that could restrict their bidding.

In its own filing to the FCC summarizing meetings its executives had with FCC officials, T-Mobile noted that Congress vested the FCC with authority to set auction rules and that it is "not required to allow every carrier to bid for every megahertz of a spectrum band that is made available for auction.” T-Mobile argued that "access to low-band spectrum and the economies of scale that greater access would enable represent two of the most pressing needs T-Mobile must satisfy if the company is to continue to play as disruptive a role in the market for the benefit of consumers as it has played over the last two years."

In discussing the proposed rules, T-Mobile wrote that "the prospect of having more demand than supply should come as welcome news to anyone concerned about generating sufficient auction revenues or generating large payments to broadcast licensees." In the filing, T-Mobile argued that more competitive bidding "not only increases revenue, but it will encourage AT&T and Verizon to increase overall bidding in order to clear more spectrum and avoid a lack of supply. This not only increases the amount paid to broadcasters, but increases the number of broadcasters that receive payment."


T-Mobile: FCC auction rules that limit AT&T, Verizon will be a boon for competition