AT&T Slams T-Mobile's 2.5 GHz Defense
AT&T fired back at T-Mobile on AT&T’s petition asking the FCC not to grant its rival additional mid-band licenses in the 2.5 GHz band. “T-Mobile does not dispute that its application triggers competitive scrutiny under the Commission’s existing spectrum screen,”…
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AT&T said, responding to T-Mobile’s defense (see 2211150017): “Nor does T-Mobile try to explain away the numerous statements of its senior executives outlining the company’s plan to hobble competition for the next decade by building on its grossly disproportionate spectrum advantage.” T-Mobile “gives the Commission a false choice: unconditionally grant T-Mobile these 2.5 GHz licenses or else let the relevant spectrum ‘l[ie] fallow,’” AT&T said. The commission could allow T-Mobile to deploy the 2.5 GHz spectrum while requiring divestiture of other licenses “needed to restore competitive condition,” the filing said. “T-Mobile tries to avoid spectrum-aggregation review altogether by arguing that it would ‘undermine the integrity of the auction process,’” but “that, too, is meritless: the Commission routinely conducts such post-auction reviews, and they are a small price to pay for safeguarding competitive access to scarce spectrum assets.”