Hot on the heels of news that T-Mobile sold 600 towers, likely to help finance next year’s 600MHz auction, it’s been revealed that T-Mo has also made a filing with the FCC to help its position in that auction.
A new filing to the FCC reveals that T-Mobile is asking that Verizon be removed from the 600MHz spectrum reserve in 12 markets across the U.S. The spectrum reserve is a slice of 600MHz airwaves set aside for companies with less than 45MHz of spectrum in a given market, and T-Mobile says that the FCC named Verizon as eligible in a dozen markets in which it shouldn’t be allowed into the reserve auction.
The markets that T-Mobile wants Verizon pulled from the spectrum reserve are:
- Oklahoma City, Okla. (Verizon’s population-weighted holdings equal 44.83MHz)
- Brownsville, Texas (Verizon’s population-weighted holdings equal 44.97MHz)
- Springfield, Mass. (Verizon’s population-weighted holdings equal 45.92MHz)
- Bozeman, Mont. (Verizon’s population-weighted holdings equal 45.41MHz)
- Galesburg, Ill. (Verizon’s population-weighted holdings equal 46.97MHz)
- Great Falls, Mont. (Verizon’s population-weighted holdings equal 45.09MHz)
- Yankton, S.D. (Verizon’s population-weighted holdings equal 44.88MHz)
- Farmington, N.M. (Verizon’s population-weighted holdings equal 47MHz)
- Sheridan, Wyo. (Verizon’s population-weighted holdings equal 44.94MHz)
- Minot, N.D. (Verizon’s population-weighted holdings equal 46.82MHz)
- Kanab, Utah (Verizon’s population-weighted holdings equal 46.96MHz)
- Valentine, Neb. (Verizon’s population-weighted holdings equal 45.02MHz)
“Verizon therefore has an interest in more than one-third of the suitable and available low-band spectrum and is ineligible for the spectrum reserve,” T-Mobile said in its entries for each of the 12 markets. Magenta went on to say that “confirming the accuracy of the reserve-eligibility list will help achieve the important public interest goal of protecting against excessive concentration of low-band spectrum holdings by the nation’s dominant wireless providers while ensuring competitive bidding.”
The goal of the spectrum reserve is to make it easier for smaller carriers to buy 600MHz spectrum without having to bid against larger firms and potentially spend more money. The FCC may have simply goofed on its list of spectrum reserve markets, and it’s possible that the list may have been updated before the auction takes place in March 2016. T-Mobile wants to give itself the best chance possible at acquiring that sweet 600MHz spectrum, though, and so it’s working to ensure that AT&T and Verizon aren’t in any of the reserves that they don’t deserve to be in.
Via: FierceWireless
Source: FCC