The antitrust subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee heard a wide range of views on the merits of a plan for Verizon Wireless to buy $3.6 billion of spectrum from a consortium of cable companies. Representatives for the firms argued that the transaction would not reduce competition between them, but opponents portrayed the deal as another step in the slow death of telecommunications competition.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Verizon’s Randal Milch emphasized that Verizon Wireless was facing a “spectrum crunch.” He wants to buy spectrum currently held by a consortium of three cable companies. Comcast, Time Warner, and Bright House bought the spectrum in the 2006 Advanced Wireless Services auction, but after careful analysis they concluded that they couldn’t afford to launch an independent wireless company. So they started looking for a buyer for the spectrum, and eventually inked a deal with Verizon.
from Ars Technica