AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA inked an agreement with the Department of Defense to explore the possibility of sharing 95MHz of spectrum that is currently used by the Pentagon and other federal agencies located in the 1755 to 1850MHz band. Sprint Nextel was not included in the pact. The announcement comes as the FCC seeks to encourage spectrum sharing between commercial and government users.

“We continue to believe that clearing and reallocating is the best approach to freeing up much needed spectrum for commercial mobile broadband use,” said Stacey Black, AT&T’s assistant VP of federal regulatory. “While clearing spectrum for exclusive commercial licensing must remain the top priority, when that is neither time nor cost effective, AT&T supports exploring sharing arrangements.”

FierceWireless: AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile forge pact to explore spectrum sharing with government; TelecomTV content partner.