Sprint, DirecTV ask FCC for Verizon cable deal info

NEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) – Sprint Nextel, DirecTV, T-Mobile USA and others
asked the U.S. telecommunications regulator to seek and disclose more
information on Verizon Wireless’ proposed purchase of wireless airwaves from
cable companies.
Verizon Wireless has announced it would spend almost $4 billion to buy
wireless spectrum from its cable rivals as part of broader agreements that
include formation of a joint venture and cable operator resale of its wireless
services.

Spectrum sales need approval from the Federal Communications Commission
because it regulates the transfer of a spectrum license.
But since the Verizon Wireless agreement with cable operators including
Comcast and Time Warner Cable is much broader than a spectrum sale, its rivals
and consumer advocacy groups are asking for details of other elements of the
deal.
“Without the ability to review the larger transaction in its entirety, it
is impossible to assess whether there will be public interest harms associated
with this proposed transfer,” the group wrote in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius
Genachowski.
The group ask Genachowski for help in “acquiring the information
necessary to adequately evaluate the proposed transactions and relationships” so
that it could give the FCC its comments on the deal.
The FCC has a formal process which takes public comments from rivals and
other interested parties into account when reviewing telecommunications deals.

Sprint, the No 3 U.S. mobile provider, was the more vocal opponent of a failed
plan last year by ATT Inc to buy No. 4 U.S. mobile provider T-Mobile USA, a
unit of Deutsche Telekom.
The Department of Justice is also examining the cable deal with Verizon
Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc.

(Reporting By Sinead Carew)
(sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com)(+ 1 646 2236186)

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