109
US Cellular tells the FCC it's doomed without the T-Mobile acquisition
(www.androidauthority.com)
this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2024
109 points (97.4% liked)
Technology
72212 readers
3306 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
That's not why they're selling.
Congress let the FCC spectrum auction/allocation authority expire in 2023. So the FCC is unable to allocate new spectrum licenses to carriers. Even the spectrum that was already auctioned has been in limbo.
https://broadbandbreakfast.com/wireless-providers-others-disagree-on-allocating-spectrum-without-auction-authority/
That makes transfer/sale of existing licenses the only path to acquisition, which significantly raises the prospective value of those assets.
T-Mobile doesn't want their customers or their infrastructure. They want the spectrum. And because Congress is sitting on their hands, US Cellular is able to demand a higher premium now than they likely ever would again.