WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) - The chair of the Senate Commerce Committee on Monday questioned a plan from private investment firm Grain Management to acquire key wireless spectrum from T-Mobile but potentially delay its use for years.
Last year, T-Mobile agreed to sell its portfolio of 800 MHz licenses to private investment firm Grain Management for $2.9 billion in cash and all of Grain's 600 MHz spectrum licenses.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz said in a letter seen by Reuters the Federal Communications Commission should only approve the deal "with specific, enforceable deployment requirements. The United States cannot afford to let valuable spectrum remain underutilized as demand continues to increase."
T-Mobile, Grain Management and the FCC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Cruz said it was crucial that the spectrum be put to use to address surging U.S. wireless needs, and he noted Grain’s request for a 12-year extension of its build-out obligations.
"This raises serious questions as to whether Grain intends to quickly and efficiently put this spectrum to the highest and best use or whether it intends to let it sit idle, wait for the valuation to rise, and flip it for a profit," Cruz said. "Allowing it to be held for speculation rather than deployed undermines both our economic and national security interests."
Cruz noted that the 800 MHz spectrum T-Mobile plans to sell "is poised for immediate, large-scale deployment." The U.S. in 2024 used a record 132 trillion megabytes of mobile data, up 35% from the prior high of 100 trillion megabytes set in 2023, according to CTIA, a wireless trade association.
The FCC lost authority to auction wireless spectrum for two years in a standoff over the Pentagon's wireless spectrum. Legislation passed last year requires the FCC to auction spectrum in the Upper C-Band by July 2027.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Franklin Paul and Sonali Paul)
