According to published reports two big auctions of wireless spectrum are scheduled for November 2014 and another in 2016. Four major players dominate the wireless market in the United States. Verizon Wireless is the largest with 106 million subscribers followed by AT&T with 86 million, Sprint with 45 million and T-Mobile with almost 41 million subscribers. There are many other much smaller carriers who are struggling to survive too. Demand for spectrum comes from not just cell phones, tablets and other devices do share services. 3G and 4G mobile services as well as Internet services are putting pressure for wireless broadband. At the November 2014 auction, other players such as Dish are expected to compete for spectrum.
Currently Sprint has the highest share of the spectrum among four players. However, their ownership of 1.9 GHz and 2.5 GHz requires building more towers and they have yet to develop most of it. They have already announced that they are going to sit out of the upcoming spectrum auction in November 2014. Other three players own lower frequency spectrums that comparatively require fewer infrastructures, more specifically less towers. The planned 2016 wireless spectrum auction expected to carry more desirable spectrum.