Rural Carriers, Consumer Groups Want AT&T-Array Deal Reviewed

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2026 – Rural wireless carriers and consumer advocates want federal regulators to reconsider the approval of a $1 billion spectrum sale from Array Digital Infrastructure to AT&T.

The Federal Communications Commission’s December order approving the deal “is in conflict with established law and is based on numerous erroneous findings with respect to important and material questions of fact,” the groups wrote in a Monday application for review. “Accordingly, review of the Order by the full Commission is warranted.”

Array, formerly UScellular, sold AT&T 700 MegaHertz (MHz) and 3.45 GHz licenses covering about 12 percent of the U.S. population after T-Mobile bought the regional carrier’s wireless operations and another chunk of spectrum. 

The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau approved the deal last month after AT&T committed to end various diversity policies, something FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is requiring before greenlighting transactions. Array is looking to liquidate all of its spectrum and has another $1 billion spectrum deal with Verizon still pending before the agency.

Opponents include RWA, Benton Institute and Open Technology Institute

The Rural Wireless Association, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and New America’s Open Technology Institute argued Monday the agency was wrong to consider the cable companies’ mobile offerings in its analysis of competition in the mobile industry.

The bureau said in both the AT&T and T-Mobile deal approvals that mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) like the cable companies provided a meaningful source of competition to the three dominant national carriers, which it factored into its analysis of whether or not the deals would be anticompetitive.

Comcast and Charter count more than 18 million mobile subscribers between them, and the number is continuing to grow, but they offer the service through deals with Verizon (and, recently, T-Mobile for medium-sized businesses). For the AT&T deal opponents, that means the cable can’t really constrain the carriers.

The groups and others had previously asked the FCC to consolidate all three major Array deals into one review, arguing the three wireless industry giants were carving up a regional competitor – UScellular was the fifth largest carrier and had more than 4 million subscribers – and further edging out small, rural operators. The agency declined to do so.

AT&T had argued the deal would increase competition by allowing it to improve its fixed and mobile broadband products.

“The proposed transaction will not cause an aggregation of spectrum that would pose an anticompetitive risk,” AT&T and UScellular wrote at the time. “The transaction will enhance competition by enabling AT&T to strengthen its competitive offerings, thus enhancing – and not reducing – overall competition in the affected areas.”

AT&T had argued in a white paper to the Justice Department that a separate $23 billion deal with EchoStar, in which the carrier is looking to buy more 3.45 GHz licenses, also wouldn’t further worsen consolidation in the wireless industry for similar reasons. The carrier said it lagged behind T-Mobile and Verizon in key mid-band holdings.

When the DOJ approved T-Mobile’s acquisition of Array’s wireless operations, the agency said it was concerned about the big three hoovering up spectrum resources, a concern the FCC does not share.

AT&T wants 3.45 GHz

AT&T already uses 3.45 GHz in its network and is looking to acquire more on top of the licenses it bought from Array. 

The carrier is already using through a lease agreement 3.45 GHz airwaves it’s buying as part of the EchoStar deal , and Ookla industry analyst Mike Dano flagged in a Tuesday LinkedIn post that AT&T is also applying to lease additional 3.45 GHz licenses from Blue Ridge Wireless. The FCC would have to approve the arrangement.

AT&T argued in the DOJ white paper that the EchoStar airwaves would provide capacity for it to offer fixed wireless service in more areas. Verizon and T-Mobile have more subscribers on the service, with 5.4 million and 8 million respectively compared to AT&T’s 1.2 million.

“Though AT&T’s long-term intention is to focus on fiber to serve fixed wireless broadband, fiber is a resource-intensive, long-term play. Further, there are many areas of the country where it simply does not make economic sense for AT&T to deploy fiber,” the company wrote. “Today, one of AT&T’s paths to challenging its rivals in converged offerings, in addition to continuing to build its fiber footprint, is to commit additional spectrum to fixed wireless, which it cannot do without more spectrum.”

The company also claimed in November that the leased 3.45 GHz had already boosted its fixed wireless speeds by 55 percent and mobile speed by 80 percent in more than 5,000 cities across the continental U.S.