The Federal Communications Commission has released the names of firms that were winners of spectrum in the recent C-band auctions, and to nobody’s surprise, Verizon was a top buyer, as was AT&T.
In fact, it appears all the spectrum that is available soonest was acquired by those two firms.
T-Mobile, already possessing a trove of mid-band spectrum, won licenses covering 72 markets.
Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, won nearly 62 percent of the A block licenses, with AT&T buying 28.5 percent of the A block licenses. The A block was favored because it can be put to commercial use the fastest, with the least amount of spectrum clearing and time delay to do so.
Most observers expect the A block spectrum to be commercially deployable by the end of 2021, while the other blocks will take longer to clear. Still, with the A block representing at least 80 percent of total C-band spectrum auctioned, it is clear that most of the C-band spectrum will be available for use quickly.
Verizon paid more than $45 billion, while AT&T committed $23.4 billion. It appears both AT&T and Verizon acquired licenses in the same 406 markets, essentially blanketing the entire continental United States.
Perhaps surprisingly, Comcast and Charter Communications, the largest U.S. cable operators, did not bid at all.
To give you some idea of the huge amount of mid-band coverage spectrum Verizon and At&T acquired, consider that Verizon gained an average of 160 MHz nationwide in the C-band auctio, while AT&T got about 80 MHz coverage of about 95 percent of the land mass in the same auction.
Prior to the C-band and 2020 Citizens Broadband Radio Service auctions, Verizon had less than 125 MHz of low-band mid-band spectrum in total. AT&T had less than 150 MHz in total spectrum assets in the low-band and mid-band ranges.
Verizon more than doubled its trove of low-band and mid-band spectrum in a single auction. AT&T increased its low-band and mid-band assets by about 50 percent.
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