Sprint and T-Mobile are developing a plan to...

Sprint and T-Mobile are developing a plan to jointly raise some $10 billion to spend in the TV incentive auction, reported The Wall Street Journal Tuesday, citing unnamed sources (http://on.wsj.com/1meWCZG). Sprint parent SoftBank is widely expected to make a play to buy T-Mobile. One industry analyst told us it’s unclear how the agreement would work if any proposed deal is ultimately rejected by regulators. “Sprint and T-Mo begged for and got unjustified bidding preferences,” said Preston Padden, executive director of the Expanding Opportunities For Broadcasters Coalition, via email. “Now they propose a joint collusive bid. This is world class ‘gaming’ of the regulatory process.” T-Mobile and Sprint were not commenting. Sprint and T-Mobile were active proponents of spectrum aggregation rules limiting spectrum purchases by AT&T and Verizon in the auction (CD May 15 p4).