Rural Carriers, Consumer Groups Want Verizon-Array Spectrum Deal Reviewed
Separately, the Rural Wireless Association also raised concerns about the proposed T-Mobile-Grain deal.
WASHINGTON, June 15, 2026 – Rural wireless carriers and consumer advocates want federal regulators to reconsider approval of a $1 billion spectrum sale.
The Federal Communications Commission cleared Verizon’s purchase of spectrum licenses from Array Digital Infrastructure, formerly the fourth largest carrier in the country, last month, and the deal closed June 1. Verizon acquired Array’s AWS-1, AWS-3, and PCS licenses covering about 8 percent of the U.S. population.
The deal was approved by the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, and groups led by the Rural Wireless Association want the decision reviewed by the voting members of the commission, they said in a Friday filing.
Broadly, RWA is concerned that the major wireless carriers are consolidating so much spectrum that they’re preventing rural providers from competing, or even staying financially viable in some areas. The group has raised the issue in other Array deals — its mobile operations and some spectrum went to T-Mobile, and another $1 billion of its licenses went to AT&T — and in EchoStar’s recent spectrum sale to AT&T.
“The cumulative effect of this transaction, along with the T-Mobile-UScellular and AT&T-Array transactions, is a structural shift resulting in even more spectrum consolidation among the nationwide wireless carriers,” RWA outside attorneys Carri Bennet and Stephen Sharbaugh wrote.
The FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr has not been receptive to those concerns, dismissing the group’s arguments in approving deals and not acting so far on its requests to reconsider those decisions.
The agency issued a statement when it approved the $23 billion EchoStar-AT&T deal in May arguing the carrier would boost its speeds and rural coverage with the airwaves in hand, making it a stronger competitor relative to other major ISPs.
In approving the Verizon deal, the wireless bureau found the cable giants’ mobile services, offered through a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deal with Verizon itself, were competitors in the markets where spectrum was changing hands.
RWA argued that was a position not yet considered by FCC commissioners themselves, and thus the bureau didn’t have the authority to approve a transaction on those grounds. The commission is supposed to vote on new questions of policy.
The group was joined on its petition by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and New America's Open Technology Institute.
The groups once had an ally at the Justice Department. Former antitrust chief Gail Slater wrote last summer after her agency approved the Array deals that she was nevertheless concerned about spectrum consolidation in the wireless industry.
Slater resigned in February, reportedly following disagreements with officials in President Donald Trump’s cabinet.
T-Mobile, Grain deal
Also on Friday, RWA told the FCC it was concerned to see EchoStar withdraw comments in which it questioned whether T-Mobile was actually using spectrum it’s looking to sell to Grain management.
EchoStar said in comments last year that it did drive tests in Wisconsin and Tennessee and found that “there may not be T-Mobile transmissions in the 800 MHz band in these cities,” which would violate FCC rules. The company acknowledged it didn’t have proof the licenses weren’t being used, but asked that the FCC resolve the matter before clearing the sale.
EchoStar then withdrew its comments late last month without explaining why.
“Absent such an explanation, the withdrawal creates the appearance that factors unrelated to the merits may be influencing the outcome of this proceeding, potentially to the detriment of competition and the public interest,” Bennet wrote. “If T-Mobile or the Commission have alleviated EchoStar’s concerns regarding T-Mobile’s 800 MHz license operations (or lack thereof), such information should be made part of the public record prior to any final decision on the proposed assignment of those licenses to Grain.”
RWA is also uneasy about the proposed Grain deal. It’s told the FCC it fears the investment firm would warehouse the spectrum or sell it to larger carriers.
EchoStar and T-Mobile declined to comment.
Grain representatives have been meeting with FCC staff and submitting ex parte letters on the proposed deal consistently in recent weeks. Grain and T-Mobile said earlier this year that Grain would sell or lease the spectrum to satellite companies for direct-to-device service, in addition to the rural carriers and utilities it had initially planned.
In a Thursday meeting with FCC staff, Grain representatives said the company would bring on at least one advisory firm to help it structure its process for soliciting and reviewing proposals from satellite operators.
“Grain added that, in assessing proposals submitted as part of the competitive process, it will be evaluating them against two overarching criteria: their commercial merits and ability to deploy the spectrum within the timelines the Commission adopts in approving the Transaction,” the company wrote in a filing posted Friday.
Update: This story was updated to reflect that T-Mobile declined to comment.
