AT&T's Stephenson: Favoring Sprint, T-Mobile in 600 MHz auction a 'big gamble'

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said structuring the rules of the upcoming incentive auctions of 600 MHz broadcast TV spectrum to favor Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile would be a "big gamble."

Stephenson, speaking at a panel convened by the Brookings Institution here on mobile technology and innovation, touched a great deal on the auctions, scheduled to start next year, and how they might be structured. His comments came against a backdrop of continued debate among the carriers and their allies over how much spectrum AT&T and Verizon Wireless should be allowed to pursue in the incentive auctions. The AT&T chief said that policy makers at the Federal Communications Commission and elsewhere need to decide what it is they want to accomplish with the auctions, whether that is maximizing revenues, lowering prices for consumers or something else. He said the structure of the auctions should flow from that.