T-Mobile, Rural Carrier Group Team Up to Help Fight Verizon’s SpectrumCo Deal

T-Mobile, a public interest group and an association of rural carriers are joining forces to encourage deeper scrutiny of Verizon’s effort to purchase spectrum from various cable companies.

Verizon announced its plans to buy the spectrum last December as part of a broader pact that includes a joint marketing agreement. It has said that, should regulators allow it to complete the deal, it will sell off some other spectrum, but T-Mobile and others have noted that the spectrum Verizon is offering to sell has some serious drawbacks.

T-Mobile and its partners, the Rural Cellular Association and Public Knowledge, plan to announce the new group — the Alliance for Broadband Competition — at a teleconference on Monday. Speakers will include the head of the RCA and Kathleen Ham, T-Mobile’s vice president of regulatory affairs.

Sprint is also a member of the group, though it is not listed as among the participants for Monday’s event.