The rivalry among US carriers has always been pretty strong. It’s very rare for instances when these rival companies work together for the same goal. Recently, however, T-Mobile and Verizon seem to be on the same boat as they are hoping the US government will not award additional spectrum to AT&T. And with that, the two are now working together to stop this. 

Back in 2017, AT&T decided to build a dedicated network for first responders to help decongest network traffic in times of an emergency. The network, called FirstNet, had access to a priority network exclusively for firefighters, emergency medical services, and police officers. AT&T was awarded the 25-year contract, which earned it a $6.5 billion funding from the government along with valuable airwaves. 

Fast forward to today, AT&T and its subsidiaries are now asking for more wireless frequencies for its FirstNet service. Together with public safety agencies, they are asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for an additional 4.9GHz band, which was originally considered a public safety spectrum. This spectrum is currently being used by the New York Police Department and Bay Area Rapid Transit. 

Unfortunately, AT&T’s request hasn’t been smooth sailing since Verizon and T-Mobile are against this. The two believe that this extra spectrum would be equivalent to a $14 billion gift that will put AT&T at a competitive advantage. Instead, the two argue that other carriers should get a chance to bid for this spectrum. Otherwise, the spectrum should be used by state and local authorities. 

There is also some concern on whether AT&T has been meeting the network-coverage and device-connection goals that were stipulated in the contract. Of course, this will need to be evaluated before a decision is made. But it’s interesting to see how the two competitors are banding together to block this “gift.”

Source: PhoneArena