Verizon Shoots Down RWA’s Request for Access to MVNO Agreement
‘Any potential basis for reviewing the Highly Confidential Information in the record is now moot,' Verizon said.
WASHINGTON, July 18, 2025 – Verizon’s latest letter to the FCC could mark the end of its ongoing dispute with the Rural Wireless Association.
The trade association, which represents rural wireless internet service providers, each with fewer than 2 million subscribers, sought access to the Mobile Virtual Network Operator agreement between Verizon and Mediacom Communications, a regional ISP.
RWA argued that the agreement could reveal that Verizon was discriminatorily offering Mediacom more favorable pricing than it provides to rural carriers. The FCC collected industry data, including information on MVNOs, to assess the impact of the proposed T-Mobile-UScellular deal on competition within the wireless industry.
In the July 15 letter, Verizon contended that the FCC’s approval of T-Mobile-UScellular rendered RWA’s request irrelevant.
“Because the Commission has now issued its approval of the transaction, any potential basis for reviewing the Highly Confidential Information in the record is now moot,” Joshua S. Turner, Counsel to Verizon Communications Inc., said in the letter.
Verizon also maintained that sharing the agreement would give RWA and its member companies a competitive advantage in future negotiations.
“This is not information that can be ‘walled off,’ the letter said. “Any counsel or expert witness privy to this information would inevitably be influenced in future negotiations by their understanding of the contours of these agreements, regardless of their good faith efforts to comply with the terms of the Protective Order.”
In previous remarks, RWA dismissed Verizon’s concerns as “speculative and unsupported.”
Verizon countered that RWA’s real motive is “to ‘evaluat[e]’ in order to try and strike a better deal of their own.”
The telecommunications company emphasized that RWA has no right to access the private information.
“There is nothing that suggests that these particular agreements – between entities who are not party to the transaction – have any relevance to the impact of the transaction,” the letter said.
Verizon concluded by reiterating the irrelevance of RWAs request, given the FCC’s recent approval.
“Especially because it's been approved even if there were an argument to be made for relevance, that argument has been rendered moot by the approval of the transaction,” it said.
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