Roger Cheng of CNET writes that Verizon is acquiring spectrum from the cable consortium, made up of Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, and Cox Communications, for $3.6 billion. Hoping to avoid the pitfalls that ended up killing the AT&T/T Mobile deal, Verizon and Comcast made their best case during a Senate hearing on March 21. At stake is Verizon's ability to tap into a valuable swath of spectrum, enabling it to continue building out its 4G LTE network.

Verizon, in justifying its planned acquisition of spectrum from the major cable providers, said its wireless arm could suffer from a capacity shortage in its bigger cities as early as next year.

"We will need this spectrum in a number of significant markets by 2013, so there is no time to lose in making this spectrum available," said Randal Milch, general counsel for Verizon, in prepared remarks.

The companies needed to win some allies in the Senate, which has some influence over the Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department.