Rule change for FCC spectrum auction requested by Sprint, T-Mobile, Spire and Dish

T-Mobile, Sprint, Dish Network, Spire Wireless and others are requesting changes to the way that the FCC will conduct its auction for the 600MHz broadcast television wireless spectrum. The group wants the federal agency to conduct the auction as planned, with one big change; it wants half of the spectrum being auctioned off, roughly 40MHz, to be reserved for smaller carriers.

Current FCC laws prevent the agency from holding more than 30MHz of spectrum aside for carriers who currently own less than 45MHz of spectrum under 1GHz in a given market. This would prevent industry leaders like Verizon ...