FCC delays its smartphone airwaves auction until 2016

T-Mobile has done a lot to improve its network over the past couple of years, but even the scrappy “Un-carrier” has admitted that it would not be able to match the network quality of AT&T and Verizon unless it gets access to more low-frequency spectrum, which propagates better than high-frequency spectrum and more easily penetrates buildings. Because of this, both T-Mobile and Sprint must be disheartened to learn that the Federal Communications Commission has delayed a key spectrum auction that could have given both carriers a major shot in the arm.

The Federal Communications Commission delayed to early 2016 an auction of U.S. airwaves surrendered by television stations that’s intended to help feed the growing number of smartphones and tablets. A lawsuit by broadcasters over auction procedure has “introduced uncertainty,” Gary Epstein, who leads the agency’s incentive auction team, said in a blog post today. Broadcasters have told a court that TV stations that don’t volunteer airwaves for the auction may lose audience because the FCC will unfairly reduce their coverage area. “We reject suggestions that our narrowly focused lawsuit is cause for delay,” said Dennis Wharton, spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters, a Washington-based trade group. “We look forward to a speedy resolution of our legal challenge and a successful auction that preserves access to free and local TV.”