Leap Wireless along with a group of rural carriers and associations including the Rural Telecommunications Group, NTELOS, SouthernLINC Wireless, SpectrumCo, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO), Mobi PCS, Revol Wireless, LCW and Denali Spectrum have petitioned the FCC to deny the proposed merger between Verizon Wireless and Alltel.
Leap and the other parties argue that the merger reduces the competitiveness of the wireless industry by eliminating a major regional carrier, exacerbates roaming issues by having fewer major roaming partners (particularly for CDMA carriers), and allows a mega-carrier to increasingly control spectrum.
Leap asks the FCC to do the following before it approves the merger: revise the existing Roaming Order by eliminating home roaming and "in-market" exclusion and initiate a rulemaking on spectrum caps.
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