Justice Department: FCC should help Sprint, T-Mobile buy frequencies

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should ensure that Sprint and T-Mobile are able to buy the rights to wireless frequencies, the Justice Department argued. The department's Antitrust Division argued that ensuring smaller carriers have access to spectrum — the airwaves that carry all mobile data traffic — is critical for promoting competition and keeping cellphone service prices down.

Sprint and T-Mobile operate nationwide networks but are much smaller than industry leaders Verizon and AT&T. The Justice Department warned that AT&T and Verizon might buy up the spectrum not to use for their customers, but to choke off their competitors' access to the vital resource. There are only a limited number of frequencies capable of carrying cellular signals. "A large incumbent may benefit from acquiring spectrum even if its uses of the spectrum are not the most efficient if that acquisition helps preserve high prices," the department wrote in the document, which was signed by division chief William Baer. The Justice Department argued that unless there is compelling evidence that one of the large carriers is already using all of its existing spectrum efficiently, the public would benefit the most from allowing one of the smaller carriers to buy the rights to the frequencies.