Echostar accuses T-Mobile of ‘anticompetitive’ acquisitions

Every other year, the Federal Communications Commission asks for input on the state of competition in the domestic communications market, to help inform a report to Congress. This year, EchoStar—now the parent company of Dish Wireless—took the opportunity to accuse T-Mobile US of a series of “anticompetitive” acquisitions and actions, as well as to ask the FCC to impose and enforce a stricter spectrum screen in order to give players other than the three national incumbent wireless operators—like EchoStar—a better chance to compete. While EchoStar said that “Together, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon hold the vast majority of the nation’s supply of suitable and available spectrum,” it singled out T-Mobile as being on a “multi-year stampede to further consolidate the wireless industry,” starting with its Sprint merger. EchoStar’s preferred remedies for the FCC to take to address the competitive landscape? A spectrum screen of 25 percent and a low-band-specific spectrum screen of 25 percent.