T-Mobile plans to file objection to FCC AWS-3 interference findings

T-Mobile says it has some options it can exercise in light of the FCC's conclusion that services operating in the proposed AWS-3 band can co-exist with T-Mobile's WCDMA network that uses the adjacent AWS-1 band without a significant risk of harmful interference.

T-Mobile has been the most vocal opponent of an FCC plan to auction a nationwide license in the AWS-3 band that would require the licensee to dedicate 25 percent of its network capacity to free broadband service and allow open access to third-party devices and applications. M2Z has been lobbying the FCC to move forward with the auction plan.

"We're disappointed with those results obviously. The commission takes all this time and effort and lo and behold, they come up with the exact same results they came up with in May," T-Mobile's Kathleen Ham, vice president of regulatory affairs, told Wireless Week. "Obviously the chairman made up his mind but there are four other commissioners."

Ham said T-Mobile and others against the auction, which includes CTIA, plan to file a joint letter objecting to the FCC's findings. If the commission still votes to move ahead with an auction, then the objecting parties will consider litigation, she said. Ham also noted the possibility of an issue reconsideration by new FCC commissioners under the next president.

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