AT&T Is ‘Serial’ Buyer of Spectrum, Merger Critics Charge
Small carriers opposed to the AT&T/T-Mobile merger asked the FCC to also look at AT&T’s proposed acquisition of 44 other 700 MHz licenses in combination with the T-Mobile buy. Sprint Nextel, MetroPCS, Cincinnati Bell Wireless, NTELOS, the Rural Cellular Association and the Rural Telecommunications Group, which made the request, earlier asked the FCC to consolidate its review of AT&T/T-Mobile and AT&T’s buy of 700 MHz licenses from Qualcomm (CD April 28 p1).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Among the 700 MHz licenses AT&T hopes to acquire, the AT&T competitors list: six B-block and three C-block licenses from Whidbey Telephone of Langley, Wash.; five B-block and 17 C-block licenses from Redwood Wireless of Sioux Falls, S.D.; single B-block license from Knology of Kansas, based in West Point, Ga., and Maxima International of Washington, D.C., and four B-block licenses from Windstream Lakedale and Windstream Iowa Communications, also in Washington.
"The instant proceedings … would allow AT&T, through serial applications, to amass 700 MHz spectrum in particular and, more generally, to become the largest wireless carrier in the nation, with a commanding presence in the 700 MHz band,” said the filing by the competitors. “This prospect raises novel concerns regarding competition, consumer welfare, and the public interest."
AT&T last month told the FCC there is no precedent for consolidating transfer and assignment proceedings like the T-Mobile and Qualcomm buys into a single proceeding (CD May 24 p14).
Meanwhile, AT&T provided the Wireless Bureau with “extensive documents, data, charts, maps and other information” the bureau requested as part of its review of the T-Mobile transaction. The cover letter runs 74 pages but offers little new public information, since key sections were redacted. Many of the documents were culled from a filing AT&T made at the Justice Department, which contained 1.2 million documents, the letter said.
AT&T said Monday three more governors, John Kasich of Ohio, a Republican, and Dan Malloy of Connecticut and Jack Markell of Delaware, both Democrats, have endorsed the merger. The endorsements bring to 18 the number of governors formally supporting the deal. Also, two free-market oriented think tanks, the Free State Foundation and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, made separate filings in general support of the merger at the FCC.
"A number of petitioners opposed to the merger argue that it will harm consumers by undermining competition in the wireless industry,” CEI said. “In all likelihood, however, the proposed deal will benefit consumers in several ways, fuel economic growth, and advance the public interest.” FSF didn’t endorse the merger, per se, but said the FCC should keep several factors in mind as it reviews the deal. “With the incontrovertible growth in spectrum use necessary to accommodate exploding consumer demand for bandwidth-hungry wireless services, especially video, the Commission must take seriously the potential for the proposed merger to improve spectrum efficiency, increase output, and improve performance to the benefit of consumers,” the group said.