AT&T plans to tell the FCC it should reject a...
AT&T plans to tell the FCC it should reject a 700 MHz interoperability mandate, Senior Vice President Robert Quinn wrote Monday on the company’s blog. Comments were due Monday on a rulemaking notice. “The proposed interoperability mandate sought by some…
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commentators would be pointless,” Quinn wrote (http://xrl.us/bng3nj). “The A Block licensees’ central claim is that they cannot obtain Band 12 devices without a mandate. This claim has now been soundly rebutted. Although the first A Block LTE service was only recently launched, A Block licensees already have access to Band 12 handset, tablet, and hotspot variants of devices first produced for other LTE bands, most significantly, Verizon’s Band 13 LTE devices that fall back to CDMA technologies.” Advocates of a mandate argue that without a mandate they won’t be able to buy “the latest, greatest LTE devices, or might not do so at a reasonable price,” Quinn said. “That concern too has now been debunked. U.S. Cellular, the only provider currently operating in Band 12, just announced that it is offering a Band 12 variant of Samsung’s newest flagship LTE smartphone -- widely considered this summer’s ‘blockbuster Android smartphone’ -- at the same time and at the same retail price as AT&T and Verizon.” Rural Cellular Association President Steve Berry said in a statement that discussions at Monday’s FCC workshop on band planning (see related story in this issue) show why 700 MHz interoperability is critical. “For consumers to have the device of their choice at an affordable price, spectrum contiguity and flexibility must be in place, and the FCC can make this happen today by requiring interoperability,” Berry said. “In recent years, AT&T and Verizon Wireless have been allowed to build their own private band plans, essentially preventing every other operator from competing. The balkanization of the 700 MHz spectrum should not be allowed to continue."