AT&T Inc. said it was concerned that U.S. regulators will “radically” restrict its ability to buy the rights to airwaves to meet growing demand for smartphones and tablet computers.
The second-largest U.S. mobile telephone company, which dropped a bid last month to increase airwaves holdings by buying rival T-Mobile USA Inc., has said the Federal Communications Commission shouldn’t limit participants in auctions of unused television airwaves.
“We are concerned that the FCC might actually design auction rules that radically restrict AT&T’s ability to participate in these auctions,” Robert Quinn, AT&T’s senior VP-federal regulatory in Washington, said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement.
Congress is considering legislation to authorize TV airwaves auctions proposed by President Barack Obama’s administration. The sales are supported by Dallas-based AT&T and its larger rival, Verizon Wireless of Basking Ridge, N.J.
FCC chairman Julius Gena chowski has said that proposals before Congress would limit the agency’s prerogative to set terms for auction participation.
“It would not be wise to prejudge or micromanage FCC auction design,” Genachowski, a Democrat, said in a Jan. 11 speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Neil Grace, an FCC spokesman, didn’t immediately respond to a telephone call and e-mail seeking comment today.
AT&T and Verizon spent $16 billion in a 2008 auction of airwaves for smartphones.
