AT&T faces new concerns over $1 billion spectrum buy

Small wireless carriers and consumer groups say the government made a mistake by approving AT&T's purchase of more wireless spectrum. They believe the deal helps big carriers grow even bigger while making competition, especially in rural areas, weaker.

"Please review this!"

Several rural wireless groups and public interest organizations have asked the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider its approval of a roughly $1 billion spectrum sale from Array Digital Infrastructure to AT&T. Array, formerly known as UScellular, is selling off its remaining spectrum after leaving the wireless business.

The deal gives AT&T access to low-band 700 MHz spectrum and mid-band 3.45 GHz spectrum that together cover about 12% of the US population. The FCC approved the transaction in December through its Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. As part of the approval, AT&T agreed to end certain DEI policies (Trump's administration insisted on this multiple times), a condition required by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr before clearing transactions.

The groups challenging the approval argue that the FCC relied on faulty assumptions and ignored important facts. They are asking the full Commission to review and potentially overturn the bureau's decision.

As you may know, this AT&T deal is just one piece of a larger breakup of UScellular's assets. T-Mobile has already bought UScellular's wireless operations and some of its spectrum, while Verizon has a separate spectrum deal with Array that is still awaiting FCC approval.

It's about competition

The FCC said the deal would not harm competition because cable companies like Comcast and Charter now offer mobile service and act as meaningful rivals to AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Together, those cable companies have well over 18 million mobile subscribers.

The critics disagree. They argue cable companies are not true competitors because they do not own their own wireless networks. Instead, they rely on agreements with Verizon and, in some cases, T-Mobile. Hence, the groups say cable companies cannot realistically pressure the big carriers on pricing or network investment.

The challengers also believe the FCC should have reviewed all of Array's spectrum sales together. In their view, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are dividing up what used to belong to the fifth-largest US carrier, making it harder for smaller and rural operators to survive.