FCC will not impose new restrictions on big wireless carriers in 2016 auction

On Thursday, the officials at the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to reject a petition from T-Mobile and other smaller carriers seeking more federal protections in the 2016 radio-wave auction.

Via the petition, T-Mobile and its allies had requested the FCC to increase the portion of airwaves which have been set aside - or reserved - for companies other than the biggest US carriers --- AT&T and Verizon. In putting forth the request, T-Mobile and its allies said that the change would essentially prevent big carriers from grabbing a massive chunk of available frequencies in the 2016 auction.

AT&T and Verizon said that the proposed change would protect T-Mobile and other smaller carriers from competition. The FCC has decided, via the Thursday voting, that the reserve will not be increased.

The rejection of T-Mobile's petition by the FCC officials implies that the agency will not impose new restrictions to stop big spectrum grabs by the country's bigwig wireless carriers in the 2016 auction, which is expected to supercharge the 4G data networks in the US and bring in billions of dollars to the US Treasury.

Along with denying the petition from T-Mobile and its allies seeking more help for purchase of airwaves by smaller carriers in the 2016 auction, the FCC has also apportioned frequencies for Wi-Fi-like uses backed by Google and Microsoft.