Verizon Asks FCC to Push through Proposed Spectrum Purchase

Verizon Wireless issued a filing with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) on Monday urging the regulatory body to approve its $3.9 billion acquisition of wireless spectrum from a coalition of cable companies.

Responding in part to an opposing filing from rival carrier T-Mobile, Verizon argued that the additional swath of spectrum is necessary for the company to meet the demands of its customers, whose near-insatiable addiction to smartphones and bandwidth-hungry mobile apps is straining its network.

"Despite the company's significant investment in network efficiencies, skyrocketing demand will overtake its 4G LTE capacity absent additional spectrum resources, which it needs to secure now given that it faces spectrum constraints in its network in some areas as early as 2013 and in many more by 2015," the filing read.

Verizon also argued that the FCC should sign off on the deal because the cable companies – Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Cox Communications – simply aren't using the spectrum, says Dow Jones.

The filing comes one month after T-Mobile petitioned the FCC to block the deal, cautioning that it would impede competition by placing an already dominate carrier in an even more dominant position. Ironically, T-Mobile only exists because of regulatory pressured applied by the FCC, which – along with the Department of Justice and various consumer interest groups – helped force AT&T to pull back its $39 billion acquisition offer for T-Mobile.

In its Monday filing, Verizon also asked the FCC to drop its review of a reseller agreement that was included as part of the $3.9 billion acquisition deal. Verizon argued that federal regulatory bodies have no right to rule over such accords. Verizon and the cable companies agreed in December to cross-promote and resell each other's products as part of bundle packages and eventually as wholesale services.

This would mean that consumers could couple together their wireless, cable, home phone and Internet services in a single bill and assumedly receive discounted pricing. Cable outlets would also be able to sell hot Verizon items like iPhones or iPads.

The cross-marketing agreement is conceivably a bigger threat to smaller carriers like T-Mobile than is the spectrum deal.