The Rural Cellular Association (RCA), which represents rural telecoms providers in the US, has called on the FCC to deny AT&T’s US$1.925bn acquisition of spectrum from US chipmaker Qualcomm.
AT&T announced the agreement to acquire spectrum in the 700MHz…
The Rural Cellular Association (RCA), which represents rural telecoms providers in the US, has called on the FCC to deny AT&T’s US$1.925bn acquisition of spectrum from US chipmaker Qualcomm.
AT&T announced the agreement to acquire spectrum in the 700MHz band in December 2010. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval, although AT&T has said that it expects the deal to be completed in the second half of 2011.
In a statement on Monday, the RCA said that the deal would cause “significant damage” to competition and would harm consumers.
The RCA’s president and CEO, Steven Berry, said that there was no way to separate the competitive impact of this deal and AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile USA.
He said: “On numerous occasions, the [Federal Communications] Commission has stressed the importance of a competitive marketplace, and now is the time for them to step up to the plate and take action on behalf of competition.”
When it announced the deal in December, AT&T said that the spectrum involved would cover over 300 million people in the US.
It includes 12MHz of the lower 700MHz D and E block covering five major cities (including Los Angeles and New York) and 6MHz of lower 700MHz D block spectrum covering 230 million people in the rest of the country.
AT&T said in December that it intended to deploy the spectrum as supplemental downlink (using carrier aggregation technology) as part of its 4G network plans.
It said it expected to start deploying this spectrum when compatible handsets and network equipment had been developed.
