The Federal Communications Commission officially approved the Verizon Wireless-SpectrumCo deal today, a week after the Justice Department cleared the transaction. Both agencies have placed stipulations on the $3.9 billion spectrum sale from the nation's leading cable providers to Verizon, and in particular on the side marketing agreements among the parties. As part of the approved package (PDF), the FCC included a spectrum swap between Verizon and Leap and a sale of spectrum from Verizon to T-Mobile. Though consumer advocacy groups continue to raise concerns about Verizon's dominance in the broadband market, the agency has said its conditions and reporting requirements ensure that the deal will be good for consumers.
FCC Halts Special-Access Price Flexibility Grants: The FCC also announced on Wednesday that it would suspend deregulation of special-access broadband lines until the agency can complete a thorough review of competitiveness in that market, set to begin within 60 days. The move approved by the commissioners in a 3-2 party line vote was hailed by Democrats in Congress as an important step towards fixing a broken pricing system, but Republicans criticized the commission for not completing a comprehensive data review before taking action.Quotable: “The decision violates good process and is difficult to square with Chairman Genachowski’s previous statements about how this issue would be addressed." -- Republicans House Energy Chairman Fred Upton of Michigan and panel member Greg Walden of Oregon