Coalition formed to oppose Verizon spectrum deal

A group of consumer advocates and smaller wireless carriers announced Monday they would launch a coalition with the sole aim of defeating Verizon's plan to purchase more wireless spectrum.

The new group is made up of Public Knowledge, Free Press, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel, RCA-The Competitive Carriers Association and the Rural Telecommunications Group.

“We are pleased to be part of the Alliance, and look forward to raising the temperature of the many crucial issues involved in the arrangements between Verizon and the biggest cable companies,” Public Knowledge legal director Harold Feld said in a statement.

A spokesman for T-Mobile said his company's opposition to Verizon’s deal is because of “it’s against the public interest.” The spokesman said it would result in excessive concentration of spectrum in the nation’s largest wireless carrier, which T-Mobile argues had already been sitting on spectrum.

Verizon’s proposed $3.6 billion deal with the cable companies Comcast, Time Warner, Bright House and Cox would allow it to buy wireless airwave licenses from the cable companies. They would also agree to cross-sell each other's services and pool their resources to research new technologies.

Comcast vice president for government communications Sena Fitzmaurice wasn't impressed, saying in a statement: “same PR firm, different day.”

“The groups organized by this PR firm have been sending out similar press releases, doing press conferences and filings at the FCC together for months,” she said. “There's nothing new here.”

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