FCC Wants Details on Verizon’s Proposed Spectrum Purchase (VZ, VOD, S, DTV, DTEGY, CMCSA, TWC)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has sent a letter to Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone plc (NASDAQ: VOD), asking for more additional information related to Verizon’s $3.6 billion purchase of wireless spectrum from SpectrumCo LLC. Verizon competitors Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV), and T-Mobile USA, owned by Deutsche Telekom AG (OTC: DTEGY) have filed objections to the purchase with the FCC.

SpectrumCo is a joint venture of Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), and privately-held Bright House Networks and Cox Communications Inc. Sprint was a partner in SpectrumCo but withdrew from the group in 2007.

The FCC’s one-and-a-half page letter asks for detailed responses to 37 attached questions (some with several parts) spread over 10 pages. The FCC “would appreciate” getting Verizon’s response by March 22nd, just two weeks from the date on the letter. Good luck with that.

The FCC’s letter is available here.