AT&T wants review of wireless-spectrum merger

Philadelphia Inquirer, The, August, 2008 by Bob Fernandez Inquirer Staff Writer

AT&T Inc. opposes a quick federal approval of the proposed wireless-spectrum merger between its competitors Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. that would create a national WiMAX network. Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc., Google Inc. and Intel Corp. are major investors in the WiMAX venture for superfast wireless Internet and video.

AT&T spokesman Michael Balmoris said yesterday: "We're not against WiMAX or those particular parties." But he said Sprint and Clearwire had said different things about the amount of wireless spectrum to be used in the WiMAX venture, valued at $12 billion. AT&T has asked the Federal Communications Commission to mount a full competitive market review, Balmoris said. AT&T separately has said it could launch its own WiMAX system for rural areas. Scott Sloat, spokesman for Sprint, said the new venture had "exhaustively documented all our spectrum holdings. AT&T seems to be a little upset that someone should have ...