Still stinging from being left alone at the altar by AT&T, T-Mobile USA apparently doesn’t want to see any of its fellow wireless carriers making multi-billion dollar deals if it can’t.

The nation’s fourth-largest wireless carrier has asked the Federal Communications Commission to stop Verizon Wireless’ proposed purchase of a big chunk of wireless spectrum that currently belongs to cable companies like Comcast, and Time Warner Cable.

Calling the spectrum sale “a clear threat to competition,” T-Mobile claims that it would allow VZW — already the nation’s largest carrier — “to accumulate even more spectrum on top of an already dominant position, while checkmating crucial avenues for growth of its smaller competitors.”

When the $3.9 billion deal between Verizon and Spectrum Co., an imaginatively named joint venture of Comcast, TWC, and Bright House Networks, it was believed that the sale would receive nowhere near the scrutiny that scuttled the AT&T purchase of T-Mobile.

The companies were hoping to avoid raising any antitrust eyebrows because these cable companies do not compete directly in the wireless market, meaning Verizon would not be inheriting any new customers or markets, nor would it be eliminating any competitors.

T-Mobile Asks FCC to Deny Verizon’s Spectrum Buy [WSJ.com]

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