Verizon, T-Mobile agree on wireless sale

Verizon Wireless has agreed to sell some wireless spectrum rights to T-Mobile USA and swap others, in a continuing quest to get regulators to approve a bigger spectrum deal it has worked out with a consortium of cable companies and another wireless carrier.

The deal includes some of the spectrum that Verizon is trying to buy from a coalition of cable companies, including Comcast and Time Warner. The Verizon-T-Mobile deal is contingent on Verizon getting government approval for three deals to buy spectrum from cable companies and Leap Wireless for a total of about $4 billion. Those deals were struck in November and December, but have met resistance from public interest groups who say the cellphone company, already the nation's largest, doesn't need more spectrum and shouldn't be cozying up to competitors such as the cable companies. T-Mobile had been opposing that deal, though presumably it is now changing its tune. Public Knowledge, an advocacy group opposed to the Verizon-cable deal, accused Verizon of buying off T-Mobile. The new deal encompasses spectrum in 218 areas, and would improve T-Mobile’s spectrum position in 15 of the top 25 markets in the U.S., notably Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit and Seattle. T-Mobile hopes to put the spectrum to use as early as next year, if the Federal Communications Commission approves the deal this summer. By selling some spectrum to T-Mobile, the smallest national carrier, Verizon could boost its hopes of winning regulatory approval for its $3.6 billion deal with the cable companies.