T-Mobile wants a “regulatory guarantee that it can...

T-Mobile wants a “regulatory guarantee that it can acquire several licenses at the Incentive Auction without any need to bid against Verizon or AT&T,” Verizon said in a filing at the FCC. Verizon took on a recent T-Mobile paper by University of Maryland economist Peter Cramton, which said spectrum aggregation limits in Canada’s recent 700 MHz auction meant a more competitive auction (http://bit.ly/1gVIerq). “T-Mobile is an established nationwide incumbent with a large, multinational parent and a demonstrated ability to acquire the spectrum it needs,” Verizon said (http://bit.ly/P0T3wV). “For example, T-Mobile recently entered into an agreement with Verizon to acquire what it describes as a ‘huge swath’ of low-frequency spectrum covering 70 percent of its customers. And the last time T-Mobile chose to participate in an auction, it dominated the bidding -- spending $4.2 billion and acquiring more spectrum than Verizon and AT&T combined. Dr. Cramton fails to support his assertion that T-Mobile needs special preferences.” T-Mobile fired back. “T-Mobile has consistently supported a one-third limit on the amount of below 1 GHz spectrum any single bidder can obtain in any individual market at auction,” said T-Mobile Federal Regulatory Vice President Kathleen Ham. “Reasonable spectrum-aggregation limits prevent foreclosure, increase auction participation, enhance auction revenues and encourage competition in the marketplace."