Competitive Carriers Launch SaveWirelessChoice Coalition

the Rural Wireless Association, Sprint, T-Mobile and other companies and associations. “The members of SaveWirelessChoice are united by a single issue that holds massive consequences for U.S. consumers, businesses and the entire broadband economy -- and that is whether the future of wireless will be dominated by a duopoly or by competition,” said CCA President Steve Berry. The 600 MHz spectrum offered in the TV incentive auction is “the last prime spectrum real estate available,” the group said in a news release. “It is critical to ensure that smaller wireless providers have fair access to enough low-band spectrum to meaningfully compete against the country’s two largest carriers -- AT&T and Verizon -- who already own nearly three quarters of this valuable spectrum nationwide.” Public Knowledge joined the Save Wireless Choice Coalition, the group said in a news release Monday. “We can’t let AT&T and Verizon, the two largest carriers, completely dominate the wireless market by buying up all the spectrum licenses,” said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. “This lack of competition drives prices up for consumers and encourages carriers to overlook updating their own networks.” Mobile Future fired back. “As consumer demand for mobile connectivity skyrockets, all wireless carriers need access to additional spectrum to support the millions of data hungry consumers devouring exponentially more bandwidth each year," the group said. "With Sprint leading the spectrum holdings pack and T-Mobile loudly touting more spectrum per subscriber than any other wireless provider, calls to 'help' Sprint and T-Mobile through spectrum set asides at taxpayer expense are misguided and gratuitous.”