The FCC today voted in favor of a decision which will restrict how much spectrum AT&T and Verizon will be able to acquire in next year’s major airwave auction.

“In a 3-2 vote along party lines, the Federal Communications Commission approved the plan that would reserve part of the spectrum in each market for wireless carriers that do not already have substantial blocks of low-frequency airwaves there, largely restricting Verizon and AT&T participation.”

The vote essentially allows the FCC to put a policy in place which would restrict how much spectrum a carrier can acquire. By reserving a percentage for carriers who don’t have the resources, and don’t currently own a lot of low-frequency airwaves, it stops Verizon and AT&T from using their superior buying power to take all of it.

For the past few weeks, Verizon, AT&T and even political parties have lobbied extensively to stop the bill from being passed. At one point, AT&T even threatened to pull out of the spectrum auction altogether. An empty threat, from a company which needs more spectrum to free up its network.

This announcement will come as sweet relief to T-Mobile and Sprint, both of whom have lobbied and put forward their arguments for the proposed changes to go through. Thankfully got Team Magenta, members of the FCC agree that giving the smaller carriers a better chance will promote healthier competition.

Via: Yahoo! Finance