RWA Will Seek Full Commission Review of T-Mobile/UScellular Approval
The Rural Wireless Association will ask the full FCC to review an order passed by the Wireless Bureau's and Office of International Affairs' acting chiefs Friday approving T-Mobile’s purchase of wireless assets from UScellular (see 2507110045), the group said Monday in an emailed statement. But new Commissioner Olivia Trusty indicated her support for the three merger orders handed down last week, suggesting that Chairman Brendan Carr would likely have a majority for approval if he sought a commissioner vote.
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“The staff’s unprecedented decision does nothing to mitigate harms to rural consumers and rural wireless carriers, including RWA’s members,” the association said in a statement. “FCC staff concedes that T-Mobile may have an increased incentive to raise prices post-transaction, yet it completely failed to put in place any measures to prevent T-Mobile from doing so.”
FCC staff, acting on delegated authority, “erred by focusing on the purported public interest benefits through the biased and rose-colored lens of T-Mobile, rather than applying strict scrutiny to those alleged benefits,” RWA said. The group maintains “that UScellular has provided meaningful competition in underserved areas, and its exit will leave rural consumers with fewer choices and higher prices.”
Agency staff also approved T-Mobile’s buy of a stake in fiber-based provider Metronet as part of a joint venture with investment firm KKR (see 2507110057) and license transfers needed as part of SES' $3.1 billion purchase of Intelsat (see 2507110066).
“These decisions reflect a commitment to fostering investment, innovation, and competition across the wireless, satellite, and fiber sectors,” Trusty said Monday. “This is key to expanding connectivity, enhancing America’s global competitiveness, and delivering real benefits for consumers.”
The bureau action sends “a clear signal that mobile market competition is no longer an important goal at the FCC,” emailed Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America. He noted that DOJ found in its review that the big three carriers now control 90% of the market and more than 80% of the spectrum. “Worse, and most surprisingly, the FCC then approved the transaction without any of the conditions needed to protect rural mobile subscribers from losing coverage, or from higher prices.”