UPDATE: Verizon, Cable Companies Defend Spectrum Sale
By Greg Bensinger Of Dow Jones Newswires
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) said its $3.9 billion deal to buy a block of wireless airwaves, or spectrum, from a group of cable companies would benefit the public by bringing more mobile service to a broader swath of Americans as data-hungry iPhones and tablet computers force capacity constraints.
The telecommunications company faces opposition from rival T-Mobile USA, which said last month in a Federal Communications Commission filing that the sale would damage competition and allow Verizon to "accumulate even more spectrum on top of an already dominant position."