Coalition formed to oppose Verizon spectrum deal

A group of consumer advocates and smaller wireless carriers announced they would launch a coalition with the sole aim of defeating Verizon's plan to purchase more wireless spectrum.

The new group is made up of Public Knowledge, Free Press, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel, RCA-The Competitive Carriers Association and the Rural Telecommunications Group. “We are pleased to be part of the Alliance, and look forward to raising the temperature of the many crucial issues involved in the arrangements between Verizon and the biggest cable companies,” Public Knowledge legal director Harold Feld said. A spokesman for T-Mobile said his company's opposition to Verizon’s deal is because of “it’s against the public interest.” The spokesman said it would result in excessive concentration of spectrum in the nation’s largest wireless carrier, which T-Mobile argues had already been sitting on spectrum.