AT&T says its needs T-Mobile spectrum

AT&T will be able to significantly improve its mobile network capacity and give better service to its customers because of its proposed acquisition of rival T-Mobile USA, company officials said.

Critics of the deal, including competitor Sprint Nextel, are incorrect in asserting that AT&T is sitting on mobile spectrum, said Bob Quinn, AT&T's senior vice president for federal regulatory affairs. The proposed $39 billion deal, announced in March, is a "very clean and quick way to deal with some of the spectrum issues that are facing this country and this company in particular," he said. The deal is necessary because AT&T is facing a spectrum shortage as mobile broadband use continues to skyrocket, the company has argued. While critics have suggested AT&T is hoarding spectrum, the company is using its 700MHz spectrum, acquired in 2008 auctions, and its AWS (advanced wireless services) spectrum to roll out 4G LTE (long-term evolution) service, Quinn said.

In a response filing to be sent to the FCC on June 10, AT&T will argue the merger will be good for mobile customers. By combining networks, AT&T will be able to increase its mobile capacity by 60 percent in New York City in the short term, and by more than 80 percent in the long term, Quinn said. Los Angeles and San Diego would both see short-term spectrum gains of more than 45 percent, Quinn said. The merger would give AT&T more spectrum and cell tower coverage, giving customers better mobile data service, he said. AT&T has tried other ways to improve capacity, including distributed antenna systems and Wi-Fi hotspots, Quinn said. "We are not stupid," he said. "We've been in the wireless business for a long time. We've tried all of these as short-term methods ... to fix and provide for more capacity. While they give you some short-term benefit, they're not long-term benefits to address the kind of bandwidth demands that we're seeing." AT&T, in its FCC filing, will also note support for the merger from dozens of groups, including 15 state governors, 10 labor unions, nine venture capital firms and several tech firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Oracle, and Yahoo, Quinn said.