UScellular Complains of Spectrum Limitations in FCC Response
UScellular filed a response to a December data request from the Wireless Bureau (see 2412270031) probing T-Mobile’s proposed purchase of much of UScellular’s wireless business, including some spectrum. Parts of the response were redacted. “UScellular’s spectrum and network cost challenges…
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have limited UScellular’s relative competitive presence in its footprint,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 24-286. “These limitations have resulted in UScellular lagging behind its competitors and being increasingly unable to catch up to the network quality they offer.” The carrier noted that it has “substantially less spectrum depth than its competitors within its footprint,” with about 70 MHz “of aggregable spectrum below 4 GHz -- half or less than” than its biggest rivals. The company’s 600, 700 and 850 MHz licenses “cannot be aggregated and used as efficiently as possible due to mobile device limitations,” the filing said. While its devices “have the hardware to support the 600 MHz, 700 MHz, and 850 MHz bands individually, they generally lack the hardware (such as more antennas) to support spectrum aggregation.” The company said it also holds “substantial non-contiguous blocks of spectrum, particularly in the 700 MHz, AWS, and PCS bands.”