Broadband Developments

I saw this on CNNMoney today. AT&T is asking federal regulators to provide a stricter review of Sprint’s acquisition of Clearwire.

Sprint and Clearwire announced their intention to merge last month, saying the venture would facilitate a national wireless Internet network that would operate on a block of airwaves partly reserved for schools, cities and other nonprofits.

Indeed, late last year AT&T sold Clearwire the rights to some of the spectrum Clearwire will use for its WiMAX network. The issue for AT&T is fairness. When it acquired Dobson Communications last year, the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) evaluation considered airwaves that AT&T bought rights to, but which won’t be available until next February.

AT&T charges that when it comes to evaluating the Sprint-Clearwire deal, the FCC and other regulatory bodies are not considering airwaves Clearwire has yet to access.

Ok complete bullshit. We need more broadband in this country for rural, urban, and schools both wired and wireless.

This is a competitive issue for our country. AT&T needs to stop this behavior now.