Stop T-Mobile's Magenta Madness, AT&T Official Says
The FCC should ignore T-Mobile’s request that the agency reject AT&T’s proposed buy of three lower 700 MHz C-block licenses from East Kentucky Network, AT&T told the agency Monday. T-Mobile made its case against the deal Dec. 23 (see 1512240027).…
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T-Mobile questioned whether AT&T is truly committed to deploying in 700 MHz when it's seeking a rule change to deploy in cellular spectrum. “It’s time to stop the magenta madness,” said Joan Marsh, AT&T vice president-federal regulatory, in a blog post. It's fact that AT&T is continuing to buy 700 MHz spectrum in rural communities around the country, Marsh wrote. “This is part of our ongoing commitment to bring LTE to rural America, a commitment that T-Mobile does not appear to share,” she said. “At the same time, AT&T is seeking a rule change that will permit us to provide LTE services more efficiently on our existing 850 MHz deployments. And this is part of our effort to effectively utilize our current spectrum resources for the benefit of our customers.” AT&T’s LTE deployment is based on its 700 MHz spectrum, but in the absence of that band, “it should be no surprise that AT&T can more rapidly expand an existing LTE network on cellular spectrum than it could construct a new LTE network on another band,” she said. “T-Mobile stands by its opposition to AT&T’s bid to acquire low-band spectrum in parts of rural Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio," said Steve Sharkey, chief-engineering and technology policy at T-Mobile. "While AT&T seeks to harm its competitors by leaving them with little but mid- or high-band spectrum to cover rural areas, AT&T recently justified a waiver to deploy next-generation technology on low-band spectrum by saying that using high-band for the same deployment would ‘take many years.’ The FCC should boost competition and protect consumers by denying AT&T’s proposed low-band spectrum acquisition.”