T-Mobile US this week said Verizon should be blocked from bidding on reserved 600-MHz spectrum in 12 markets during next year’s incentive auction.
In a filing to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), T-Mobile said the regulator has incorrectly identified Verizon as eligible to bid on reserved frequencies in these areas.
"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," said T-Mobile US counsel Trey Hanbury, in the filing dated Monday.
The FCC has set aside 30 MHz of 600-MHz spectrum for service providers that currently hold less than a third of licensed low-band spectrum in a given market, or Partial Economic Area (PEA), as the FCC calls them.
With 134 MHz of licensed low-band spectrum per PEA, that puts the upper limit at 44.67 MHz per operator, which the FCC has rounded up to 45 MHz.
T-Mobile’s filing pointed out that in eight of the 12 PEAs (see list below), Verizon holds more than 45 MHz, while in another four, it holds less than 45 MHz, but more than 44.67 MHz.
"Rounding down for purposes of applying the reserve-eligibility threshold would be arbitrary and logically inconsistent with the FCC’s decision to round up for purposes of calculating what constitutes ‘one-third of suitable and available spectrum’ below 1 GHz," T-Mobile said.
There are 416 PEAs in total, and T -Mobile and Sprint – which has already stated it won’t participate in the auction – are eligible to bid on reserved spectrum in all of them. AT&T is eligible in 242 PEAs, while as it stands, Verizon is eligible in 112.
The FCC is auctioning nationwide 600-MHz frequencies, which are currently held by TV broadcasters, for mobile services so that telcos can use them to improve mobile broadband coverage, particularly in rural and remote areas.
The process will be divided up into two auctions. The reverse auction will see broadcasters sell their frequencies back to the FCC, while the forward auction will see those airwaves sold again to telcos.
The regulator aims to begin the auction on 29 March 2016.
