The dispute between AT&T Inc. (T) and T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS) continues, as the former has accused T-Mobile of not investing in its network, and instead relying on roaming agreements to provide service to subscribers.
Earlier in May, T-Mobile sought clarification from the FCC about the wireless roaming agreements, and urged it to set benchmarks for what was regarded as "commercially reasonable" under FCC’s 2011 Data Roaming Order. The wireless carrier said the high roaming rates forced it to throttle data for its users in areas where it used AT&T’s network.
According to AT&T’s VP of Federal Regulatory Affairs, Joan Marsh, T-Mobile is “seeking radical changes in those rules" to end the “incentive for carriers to build out their networks." In her blog post, Ms. Marsh wrote that although T-Mobile has a significant amount of unused AWS and PCS spectrum, it is currently not using it to build out its network. Instead, it depends on roaming agreements with AT&T to provide service to its users.
An FCC survey recently revealed that T-Mobile has been unable to build out its network "in extensive areas throughout the Midwest, Mountain, and certain Eastern portions of the US."
Though T-Mobile may not have deployed its spectrum in the areas pointed out by AT&T, the company has been busy expanding the reach of its network. Recently T-Mobile introduced Wideband LTE in some key markets, and has bought 700 MHz spectrum in the past few months. The company currently covers 250 million users, and plans to increase the coverage to 300 million by the end of next year.
Source: http://www.bidnessetc.com/28241-att-calls-out-tmobile-for-relying-on-roaming-deals/
