AT&T is worried about T-Mobile and XpaceX's partnership.
The popular carrier recently asked the Federal Communications Commission to stop the partnership deal between the two companies due to its alleged effects on its wireless and mobile broadband services.
The two companies previously inked the partnership deal in Aug. 2022 to "blanket the US with wireless service," per CNET.
AT&T FCC Complaint Details
AT&T recently filed a complaint against T-Mobile and SpaceX's partnership as it could jeopardize or inhibit its terrestrial wireless service and that the FCC must prioritize protecting it since T-Mobile and SpaceX's proposals for information about potential interference are lacking.
"...the [a]pplicants' technical showings are woefully insufficient regarding the risk of harmful interference posed by their planned SCS deployments," AT&T said in its complaint. "SpaceX and T-Mobile's applications fall far short of meeting the threshold for waiver and cannot be granted in their current state."
According to a recent CNET article, AT&T has spectrum rights adjacent to the range SpaceX would be using for its partnership deal with T-Mobile, which would require the latter company to modify its license for its Starlink satellite network to receive and broadcast signal to and from mobile devices.
While SpaceX requested waivers to use the so-called PCS G-Block of signal bands (which are between the 1.9GHz and 2GHz range), AT&T argues that this preventative measure isn't enough to prevent interference with other networks.
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For those unaware, AT&T has its own surface-through-space communication service thanks to its partnership with AST SpaceMobile, a company building "the first and only space-based cellular broadband network to be accessible by standard smartphones," per its official website. As such, they feel that T-Mobile and SpaceX's new satellite-based service would interfere with its own.
Although AT&T has yet to reveal when its own consumers will see the benefits of its partnership with AST, it has the advantage that AST has been connecting satellite calls for years. SpaceX, on the other hand, will need approval from the FCC before it can carry calls with its Starlink satellite network.
While neither AT&T nor T-Mobile immediately responded to a request for comment regarding the former's complaint, the latter and SpaceX's service isn't expected to launch in its beta version until sometime before 2023 ends, per The Verge.
Companies Against T-Mobile-SpaceX Partnership
AT&T isn't the only one complaining about T-Mobile and SpaceX's partnership. Ars Technica mentioned that the Rural Wireless Association, a trade group for small, rural, wireless carriers, and Omnispace, which is working on a partnership for its own satellite-to-phone system, also filed their complaints against it.
Both companies argued that the partnership would cause adjacent channel interference to the involved frequency bands in rural and remote areas - a similar complaint to AT&T's.
These complaints are answers to the FCC's call for comments regarding T-Mobile and SpaceX's partnership and plans for a satellite-to-cellular service. Should there be enough comments about it, the FCC could establish more roadblocks that hinder the partnership deal between the two companies.
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