T-Mobile, Sprint and Dish push for 40 MHz spectrum reserve in 600 MHz auction

T-Mobile, Sprint, and Dish Network continued to push for the Federal Communications Commission to reserve up to 40 MHz of spectrum for smaller carriers to bid on in the incentive auction of 600 MHz broadcast TV spectrum. The current reserve is capped at 30 MHz. Yet executives from those companies acknowledged that this is just one of many issues carriers, broadcasters and regulators will need to deal with in the months ahead as the early-2016 start date for the auction draws closer.

During the "Incentive Auction Opportunities and Perils" panel, executives from the carriers grappled with a wide range of issues. Much still needs to be resolved in terms of the technical rules for the auction. All of the panelists noted that the FCC and auction participants will need to balance how much broadcasters are willing to sell their spectrum for with how much carriers are realistically going to spend to acquire that spectrum, in what is shaping up to be a fiendishly complex auction. Yet the reserve question kept cropping up. For months T-Mobile has been pushing for at least 40 MHz to be reserved for smaller carriers, and Sprint and Dish executives agreed with that formulation. AT&T and Verizon will have too much low-band spectrum in many markets to bid on the spectrum.