T-Mobile fires back at M2Z ahead of AWS-3 auction

T-Mobile USA submitted an ex parte filing to the FCC in response to M2Z Network's criticisms of its proposed plans for the upcoming auction of AWS-3 spectrum. T-Mobile claims that its plan to use asymmetric licensing is a better plan than one specifically tailored to M2Z's business plan.

At its Dec. 18 meeting, the FCC plans to vote on auction rules for the AWS-3 spectrum. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has pushed for a  nationwide license in the 2155-2180 MHz band that would require the winning bidder to open up 25 percent of its network for free broadband access. M2Z has pushed for these rules, and now T-Mobile has pushed back.

T-Mobile wants the 20 MHz AWS-3 band paired with the 10 MHz J block to create a single asymmetric license that it says would support downstream bit rates of about 35 Mbps per sector and upstream bit rates of about 4 Mbps per sector. T-Mobile says this plan will avoid harmful interference. An earlier FCC engineering report concluded that opening up the AWS-3 spectrum in a single national license would not cause interference to T-Mobile AWS-1 spectrum, which the company has vehemently disagreed with.

"As demonstrated herein and in our November 17 letter, T-Mobile's Broadband Minimization Plan offers faster speeds and greater efficiencies while permitting the use of higher power mobile devices without raising the concern of harmful interference that has dominated this proceeding," wrote Thomas Sugrue, T-Mobile's vice president of government affairs. "The Commission is under no obligation to open the AWS-3 band to TDD uplink operations simply because FDD operations are prevalent in other bands--especially when those operations are not in the public interest or a superior alternative exists."

For more:
- see the filing

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