AT&T, T-Mobile US argue over pending 700 MHz license deal
AT&T and T-Mobile US continued to spar over spectrum licenses, with the latest match concerning AT&T’s pending plans to acquire a trio of 700 MHz licenses covering portions of Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio.
T-Mobile US filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking that the government agency deny AT&T’s pending acquisition from East Kentucky Network, claiming it “would harm consumers, diminish investment and reduce competition.”
In its filing, T-Mobile US brought up the staple arguments regarding the superior coverage and propagation characteristics of the sub-1 GHz spectrum band as well as the current dominance of AT&T in the areas covered by the licenses, which T-Mobile US claims is in excess of 60% in some areas.
“Allowing AT&T to acquire additional low-band spectrum will limit competition and provide AT&T with greater latitude to withhold infrastructure investment, technology upgrades, and service innovations that a more competitive market would require,” T-Mobile US noted in its filing.
The carrier also cited the area’s financial climate, which T-Mobile US said was more sensitive to a lack of competition.
“The parts of central and northeastern Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio involved in this transaction exhibit high concentrations of poverty; therefore, any constraints on competitive entry in these markets pose an especially grave risk to price-sensitive consumers,” T-Mobile US added.
AT&T countered T-Mobile US’ argument with a tersely titled blog post: “T-Mobile should stop complaining and start investing in rural America,” claiming the deal would not impact competition in the markets and would allow AT&T to rollout LTE services backed by 20 megahertz of low-band spectrum, “which will enable AT&T to offer faster and higher quality services to its rural customers.”
The post, authored by Joan Marsh, VP of federal regulatory at AT&T, argues that the spectrum being discussed is currently sitting fallow with little chance of being put into use by the current owners, thus there is no chance to impact competition.
Marsh goes on to claim that T-Mobile US has in excess of 20 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.7/2.1 GHz band covering some of these markets, but has yet to deploy service and that if it wanted access to sub-1 GHz spectrum it could buy licenses that are currently not being used.
“Yet, T-Mobile chooses to do none of these,” Marsh notes. “Instead it is spending resources on trying to block AT&T from investing in rural America. I guess un-investment in un-urban markets is the un-carrier thing to do.”
AT&T last month filed a petition to acquire a pair of 25-megahertz cellular licenses in the 850 MHz band covering portions of Illinois that are currently controlled by Cellular Properties. AT&T said the deal would also include network equipment and “other assets.”
T-Mobile US has been very vocal in its efforts to reduce the ability of larger rivals AT&T and Verizon Wireless to get their hands on additional sub-1 GHz spectrum licenses. Those efforts have most recently included considerable lobbying of the Federal Communications Commission and public opinion to set aside a larger amount of 600 MHZ spectrum licenses – set to be included in the upcoming incentive auction process – outside of bidding eligibility of AT&T and Verizon.
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