SpectrumCo and Cox countered Sprint Nextel warnings that the Verizon...
SpectrumCo and Cox countered Sprint Nextel warnings that the Verizon Wireless cable deals could have negative impacts for cable Wi-Fi and backhaul (CD July 11 p15). The transactions involve both a sale of AWS licenses to Verizon and commercial agreements…
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between Verizon and the cable operators, the focus of Sprint’s concerns. “There is no provision in the Commercial Agreements that prohibits the MSOs from providing backhaul services to any other party, or that prohibits Verizon Wireless from purchasing backhaul services from any provider other than one of the MSOs,” the cable companies said in a filing at the FCC (http://xrl.us/bnjbfc). “The Commercial Agreements do give the MSOs opportunities to grow their backhaul businesses, but do not restrict the provision of backhaul as Sprint, et al. assert.” SpectrumCo and Cox also said “there is no credible theory of harm to backhaul competition.” There is “no current Wi-Fi offload market and thus no market to regulate. Wi-Fi ‘offload’ services -- that is, if wireless carriers purchase Wi-Fi services to divert traffic that would otherwise be carried over their networks in order to help reduce network congestion -- are not currently sold and are not being provided by the MSOs directly to any wireless provider, including Verizon Wireless."