By Kevin Fitchard – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is curious why Verizon Wireless bought a bunch of 4G spectrum back in 2008 but now plans to sell it.
Carriers like T-Mobile and Sprint, along with a slew of consumer advocacy and telecom industry groups, have criticized the deal, claiming Verizon is merely trying to lock up the most valuable 4G airwaves.
Verizon is in a tricky situation here. Those A and B block licenses don’t fit well into its LTE plans for multiple reasons: the goofy configuration of the 700 MHz band, the fact that they don’t form a nationwide footprint and interference concerns in A block. When Verizon bid on them and won them in 2008, it probably wanted them as insurance – or to keep them out of AT&T’s hands. It was hoping something better would come along, and it did — in the form of nice big gift-wrapped package of clean nationwide airwaves delivered by its new cable buddies. more> http://is.gd/fjiGqx
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