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The constant bickering between the US carriers in the aftermath of the failed AT&T/T-Mobile merger plan has reached new heights, with AT&T accusing Sprint of exploiting new roaming rules to skimp on its own network investments.

Sprint hit back angrily, claiming it had doubled its network investment over the past year and is engaged in its multibillion dollar modernization project, Network Vision, which will support multiple bands, air interfaces and a move to LTE.

The dispute started when AT&T's SVP for federal and regulatory affairs, Robert Quinn, cited two newspaper reports in a corporate blog post. These reports, from The Oklahoman and Kansas City Business Journal, said that, from March 1, Sprint would rely on roaming in rural regions of Oklahoma and Kansas in a bid to reduce network costs. "Due to rising network costs, we are making adjustments to the coverage we provide to some areas of Oklahoma and Kansas," Sprint spokeswoman Melinda Tiemeyer told one of the newspapers.

Quinn had previously slammed the FCC's decision in April 2010 to abolish home roaming rules for voice services, enabling smaller cellcos to rely on roaming in markets where they have spectrum but have not built out networks. He claimed this would be a disincentive to invest in new infrastructure and would allow smaller carriers to ride for free on the capex of the big two. He also came out against last year's FCC ruling mandating automatic data roaming. Verizon Wireless's lawsuit to block those changes is still awaiting a hearing in federal court.

"As a result of those two FCC Orders, Sprint can now use other folks' networks rather than pony up its own investment dollars," Quinn wrote. "Nice work if you can get it."

Sprint responded in a statement: "The facts are that Sprint, as part of its Network Vision program, doubled its 2011 capital investment over 2010 to make tens of thousands of capacity upgrades, resulting in a better wireless experience for its customers. With these network investments, Sprint continues to offer consumers a better value than AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile." Sprint is the only major carrier still offering unlimited data plans.

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