Julius Genachowski, the outgoing chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today touted his agency's record in promoting wireless competition over the last four years. And he warned that allowing AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the market leaders, to snap up all of the spectrum in an upcoming wireless auction would be a "very bad thing for our innovation economy."

Genachowski oversaw the FCC during President Obama's first term, but he will step down from the post in the coming weeks. He spoke at the Bloomberg Washington Summit on Tuesday morning.

According to The Hill, Genachowski defended his agency's 2011 decision to block AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile, the nation's fourth-largest wireless provider. The move was "absolutely the right call," he said. Genachowski argued that thanks in part to the FCC's interventions, T-Mobile and Sprint are "moving up, they're getting stronger and we're seeing a healthy competitive market."

Genechowski's comments are important because the FCC is in charge of organizing an upcoming "incentive auction" scheme, in which television broadcasters are paid to relinquish spectrum that can then be put to use for wireless networks. In Tuesday's remarks, he advocated a balanced approach in which all four major wireless carriers would have a reasonable chance to expand their spectrum holdings.

"I'm convinced the auction will be designed so that everyone can get more spectrum," he said.

His statements echo arguments made by the Department of Justice earlier this month that allowing AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the market leaders, to get too much spectrum would undermine competition and harm consumers.

The FCC will likely have a new chairman by the time the auction is held, but Genachowski and the people he has hired will play a key role in developing the ground rules that will govern it, which may determine whether spectrum holdings become more or less unequal as a result.