Allan Holmes

Jonathan Spalter, the chairman of Mobile Future, sat at the witness table along with the big wireless carriers and well-known consumer advocates to tell senators how the government should auction valuable airwaves that the telecommunications companies say they need to keep up with the exploding use of smartphones and tablet computers.

Spalter told the senators that the best way to ensure a successful auction -- one that would best serve customers and promote innovative technologies -- is to allow all wireless companies to bid without restrictions on as many frequencies as they want.

What Spalter didn’t reveal is that Mobile Future, which describes itself as “a coalition of cutting-edge technology and communications companies and a diverse group of non-profit organizations,” is funded in part by wireless giants AT&T and Verizon, which are also advocating for an auction free of limits.

When Comcast, a Washington lobbying powerhouse, fires up a campaign to convince lawmakers and regulators to support its $45 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable, don’t expect much opposition from the companies' biggest rivals.

Instead of fighting the deal -- which would create a cable TV and broadband Internet provider with 30 million customers and a television network -- rivals like Cablevision Systems and Cox Communications will likely try to use the merger of the No. 1 and No. 2 cable companies to extract their own concessions from the government, including seeking permission for their own mergers and lighter regulation. Charter Communications, which was close to buying Time Warner Cable before Comcast undercut it with the deal, would be viewed as a sore loser if it chose to oppose the merger. The company is already looking around at other cable companies to buy, including Cox.

Rather than fighting, the companies are likely to say, “’We need scale to compete with Comcast,’” so approve our deals, said Harold Feld, a senior vice president at Public Knowledge. AT&T and Verizon Communications, the biggest wireless companies, are likely to lie low for the same reason. “AT&T and Verizon typically have had a gentlemen’s agreement that, ‘We don’t comment on your merger and you won’t comment on our merger,’” Feld said.