The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday approved a proposal by AT&T and radio service Sirius XM Radio that would allow the wireless giant to move forward with plans to use airwaves that were under dispute over interference concerns. Now AT&T will be able to use the majority of a 30 megahertz swath of spectrum to build out 4G LTE wireless services in certain areas. The companies agreed that AT&T would use 20 megahertz for mobile broadband and the remaining 10 megahertz for fixed broadband.
"AT&T took real risks to develop this under-utilized band and is committed to devoting the resources necessary to unlock its full potential. We expect to commence deployment of LTE infrastructure in the band in as early as three years, allowing us to enhance our wireless broadband services. Our customers will also win, as additional spectrum capacity becomes available to support surging mobile Internet usage," Joan Marsh, AT&T's vice president of federal regulatory issues, said in a statement.
"The U.S. has become the world's test bed for 4G LTE services and applications, which is vital for U.S. innovation leadership and for sustainable job creation," FCC chairman Genachowski said. He added removing regulatory barriers is just one way that the FCC is working to free up spectrum and increase the efficiency of its use.
"The Commission is also reallocating underutilized spectrum, as with the historic incentive auction; moving forward with traditional auctions; working with our partner agencies to clear and reallocate government spectrum; enabling dynamic spectrum sharing; and facilitating secondary market transactions," said Genachowski.
