US FCC meeting delayed; Verizon, Sprint deals mulled

WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - A U.S. Federal Communications Commission meeting on Tuesday was delayed as the five commissioners sought to finalize conditions for Verizon Wireless's acquisition of Alltel Corp.

The FCC meeting was scheduled to begin at 1100 ET (1600 GMT) but had not yet begun at 1430 ET (1930 GMT).

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told reporters that the other four commissioners were likely discussing what roaming conditions to put on the Verizon deal.

The agency was scheduled to vote on Verizon Wireless's $28 billion acquisition of Alltel, a rural wireless provider, and on Sprint Nextel Corp.'s (S.N) $14.5 billion deal with Clearwire (CLWR.O), a wireless Internet service provider.

Martin has proposed requiring Verizon and Altell to keep existing roaming agreements for two years. Both deals are expected to be approved, but with FCC-imposed conditions.

Verizon Wireless is owned jointly by Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and Britain's Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L).

The FCC is also scheduled to vote on a plan to open soon-to-be-vacant television airwaves for unlicensed use by wireless devices. Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Google Inc (GOOG.O) have been lobbying hard for that proposal to be approved, with the promise it will lead to a new generation of wireless devices and services. (Reporting by Kim Dixon; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)