US mobile operator Sprint Nextel has criticised AT&T over a sale of spectrum that, according to Sprint, undermines AT&T’s claim that its acquisition of T-Mobile USA would help to solve an exhaustion of spectrum.
AT&T argues, however, that the spectrum…
US mobile operator Sprint Nextel has criticised AT&T over a sale of spectrum that, according to Sprint, undermines AT&T’s claim that its acquisition of T-Mobile USA would help to solve an exhaustion of spectrum.
AT&T argues, however, that the spectrum being sold is not suitable for LTE or HSPA services, and that there are other challenges to using it for mobile broadband deployment.
The counsel for Sprint Nextel, Charles Logan from Lawler, Metzger, Keeney & Logan, LLC, said in a letter to the FCC that recent actions by AT&T “undermine the very premise of its ‘spectrum crunch’ claim”.
Logan referred to an offering memorandum showing that AT&T and NextWave Wireless, a holding company with a wireless spectrum portfolio, are jointly selling their 2.3GHz Wireless Communications Service (WCS) C and D block spectrum licences.
According to the document, the sale involves spectrum that covers the whole US population. 10MHz will cover over 80% of the population, while 5MHz will cover portions of Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and the north-east.
In his letter to the FCC, Sprint counsel Logan argues that “AT&T does not face a spectrum crunch”.
Other wireless carriers like Verizon Wireless would manage to serve more customers with fewer spectrum resources than AT&T.
He claimed that AT&T’s statements on this and other matters raised what is termed “substantial and material question[s] of fact” under the Communications Act, which mandated that the FCC designate the proposed transaction for hearing.
He concluded the letter by saying that Sprint urged the FCC to act promptly to designate AT&T’s proposed US$39bn T-Mobile acquisition for resolution before an administrative law judge.
AT&T did not offer any direct response to this most recent allegation made by Sprint.
But in a recent blog post AT&T’s VP of Federal Regulatory Affairs, Joan Marsh, responded to an earlier comment about the spectrum sale made by Public Knowledge, a lobby group based in Washington.
Marsh said that the spectrum is of no use for AT&T due to technical and regulatory limitations. In her 27 October blog post, she said that the C and D blocks are each 5MHz licences (unpaired). WCS service rules meant that 2.5MHz of each band must be used as a “guard band against interference”.
The remaining 2.5MHz are not suitable for LTE or HSPA services, she argued. Power levels and other technical limitations also create additional challenges to using this spectrum for mobile broadband deployment.
However, the spectrum might still be useful for a “niche application, like a Smart Grid or backhaul deployment, or for some new innovative deployment on the horizon”.
She added: “We therefore offered the spectrum on the secondary market, which enables efficient use of spectrum resources – fully consistent with the Commission’s spectrum policies.”
Marsh said at the time that while the company had received interest in the licences from multiple parties, it had not received any binding offers.
In its original statement on the T-Mobile deal in March, AT&T described the T-Mobile acquisition as “a fast, efficient and certain solution to the impending exhaustion of wireless spectrum in some markets, which limits both companies’ ability to meet the ongoing explosive demand for mobile broadband”.
Separately, AT&T has filed motions to dismiss the lawsuits filed by Sprint Nextel and Cellular South (now known as C Spire Wireless) opposing the AT&T/T-Mobile deal.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has also filed a lawsuit against the acquisition as a result of its antitrust investigation into the proposed transaction. The trial for this lawsuit is due to start on 13 February.
