AT&T urges FCC to revisit spectrum bidding rules

(Reuters) - AT&T Inc has urged the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to relook into bidding rules for spectrum, saying licenses should not go to "speculators or stockpilers".

Dish Network Corp, the third-largest pay-TV provider in the U.S. and the owner of undeveloped wireless spectrum, was a surprise winner in the record-setting sale of airwaves for mobile data in January.

Dish itself did not win any licenses, but had invested in bidding partners SNR Wireless LicenseCo LLC and Northstar Wireless LLC, which bid a total of $13.3 billion.

"Auctions should be designed to ensure that licenses go to those willing to deploy networks – not speculators or stockpilers," AT&T's Vice President of Federal Regulatory, Joan Marsh, wrote in a blog post. (http://bit.ly/1vm5Hep)

AT&T was the top buyer at the auctions, bidding a total of $18.2 billion to win licenses of so-called AWS-3 spectrum.

Dish could not be immediately reached for comment.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)