Bad news for Verizon as the FCC formally announced its disapproval of the company’s potential $3.6 billion acquisition of spectrum from cable companies (Cox, Time Warner, Comcast, and Brighthouse). The feds want the largest cell phone provider in the United Sates to resend its filings because it feels the original filings submitted by Verizon Wireless were full of holes, simply put, the government needs more information about the proposed deal.
The FCC’s message to Verizon yesterday was, “In order for the Commission to complete its review of the applications and consider the necessary public interest findings…we require that you provide by March 12, 2012, a revised copy of the redacted versions of the following Agreements that removes the redactions with respect to the following provisions and associated definitions and exhibits in the referenced agreements.”
This message to Verizon Wireless should come to no ones surprise as many competitors to Big Red have publicly voiced their dislike for the proposed deal, as companies like T-Mobile USA have shown attentions to being active in blocking VZW’s huge spectrum grab.
In the end, this whole spectrum grab by Verizon is a little sketchy, because it looks like a big company trying to hoard more spectrum it doesn’t really need. Almost a month ago, Verizon Wireless’s CEO Dan Mead claimed the company was in a “solid spectrum position,” adding the company didn’t need to refarm any spectrum being used for its 2G and CDMA EV-DO networks for LTE services. Then Verizon changed its position a couple of weeks later to further its case into closing the spectrum deal with the cable companies by suggesting that its LTE network will reach maximum capacity next year.
Bottom line is, I think Verizon is full of it, and I don’t trust anything these carriers say when it comes to the topic of spectrum.
[FCC; via PhoneScoop]