AT&T Mobility aims to shore up wireless spectrum capacity and apply it to its high-speed Long Term Evolution network after striking a deal to acquire a batch of Advanced Wireless Services and 700MHz licenses from Oregon’s BendBroadband.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but according to an FCC document posted by FierceWireless, AT&T is in line to nab two 20 MHz licenses for 1.7/2.1 GHz AWS spectrum and on 10 MHz license for a 700 MHz B Block covering portions of Oregon. http://assets.fiercemarkets.net/public/newsletter/fiercewireless/attbend...
AT&T said the capacity will enable it to expand its LTE network and to “achieve greater operational efficiencies.”
According to FierceWireless, BendBroadband has alerted customers that it will shut down its LTE-based service no later than July 25, 2014.
AT&T has been on the prowl for cable’s spectrum holdings it can use to shore up its expanding LTE network. Earlier this month, AT&T struck a deal to buy a block of 20 MHz of AWS-1 spectrum from Cable One covering 119 counties in 24 cellular market areas in various states.
Those deals follow a wider trend that has seen major MSOs sell off spectrum.
Comcast, Bright House Networks, Time Warner Cable and Cox have all sold their respective AWS spectrum to Verizon Wireless for almost $4 billion. As part of the multi-faceted transaction, those cable operators and Verizon Wireless are now reselling each other's products.
However, a cable/wireless innovation joint venture that was linked to the original deals between Verizon Wireless, Comcast, TWC, and Bright House struck in December 2011 has since been terminated.
