As per the AWS-3 spectrum auction results revealed by FCC, wireless major AT&T has purchased airwave for $18.2 billion, Dish consortium $13.3 billion, Verizon $10.4 billion and T-Mobile $1.8 billion.
AT&T
AT&T has acquired 251 licenses for contiguous 10×10 MHz block of AWS-3 spectrum that will help AT&T in covering 96 percent of the U.S. population and 96 of the Top 100 U.S. markets.
“Growth in our customers’ mobile data usage continues to explode, driven by mobile video traffic. This spectrum investment will be critical to AT&T staying ahead of customer demand and facilitate the next generation of mobile video entertainment,” said John Stankey, chief strategy officer-AT&T.
AT&T will work with network and handset suppliers, and industry standards bodies to deploy the spectrum beginning in the 2017-2018 period to boost mobile Internet traffic. Mobile data traffic on AT&T’s wireless network increased 100,000 percent from January 2007 through December 2014.
AT&T said the spectrum includes 57 percent of MHz POPs covered by J-block of AWS-3 spectrum.
Dish
Dish has tied up with bidding partners such as SNR Wireless LicenseCo and Northstar Wireless. The two companies, backed by financial firms including BlackRock but with little to no revenue, had applied to receive a discount as small-business entities, bringing their net bid amount to $10 billion.
Dish said in a statement it had invested in two entities that participated in the auction but did not further explain its plans, citing FCC anti-collusion rules.
Verizon
Verizon said in a statement it bought 181 licenses that cover markets reaching 61 percent of the United States. These licenses are in markets covering 192 million POPs.
T-Mobile
T-Mobile bagged 151 licenses.
Sprint
Sprint, the third-largest U.S. carrier and owned by Japanese telecom major SoftBank, has skipped the AWS-3 auction in the U.S.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
