Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is sticking with his plan to limit the amount of spectrum the biggest carriers can buy at the next big auction, refusing to grant a T-Mobile US request to impose even stricter limits.
More than a year ago, the FCC tentatively decided that the planned auction of broadcast TV airwaves to wireless carriers will set aside up to 30MHz in each geographic area for carriers that don't have significant amounts of low-band spectrum in the region. In most cases, this means that AT&T and Verizon Wireless will not be able to bid on that 30MHz. (The reserve could be lower than 30MHz if it turns out the total amount of available spectrum is less than 70MHz.)
T-Mobile has argued that the FCC should make 40MHz available exclusively to the smaller carriers, but Wheeler today said he's sticking with his 30MHz plan. His latest proposal, which would be voted on July 16, "concludes that the current reserve size of 30 megahertz balances the desire to make low-band spectrum available to parties with limited holdings while facilitating competitive bidding for all auction participants," Wheeler wrote on the FCC blog today.
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