Verizon executive calls for more spectrum

AT&T’s $39 billion bid for T-Mobile USA has highlighted the need for the US government to free more spectrum for mobile network operators, according to a senior Verizon Communications executive.

Fran Shammo, Verizon’s chief financial officer, said that the company would continue to “stay on the sidelines” and refrain from commenting directly about AT&T’s proposed purchase of the Deutsche Telekom unit, which the Justice Department is seeking to block on competition grounds. But he added that if the government does not allow operators to acquire spectrum through acquisitions, “somewhere along the line there has to be some form of spectrum reform”. “The government has to release spectrum to people who want to use it and build it out,” he said. Shammo said that placing spectrum ownership caps on companies would not lead to industry innovation or to more mobile devices consumers wanted to buy.