On Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission announced the winners of a $ 81 billion tender for the license to use major radio waves, ideal for 5G.
The big winners were Verizon and AT&T. They need these waves to build 5G networks, which are significantly faster than current wireless service.
Verizon, through its subsidiary Cellco Partnership, has bid nearly $ 45.5 billion on radio. AT&T, through AT&T Spectrum Frontiers, bid $ 23.4 billion. The third largest US operator, T-Mobile, bid for the third largest amount of money, $ 9.3 billion.
The amounts spent by companies have come to be much higher than expectations for last summer’s auction, which reflects how important it is to secure licenses for radio waves for carriers.
“These record results highlight the critical demand and need for a more licensed midband spectrum and demonstrate the importance of developing a robust spectrum bidding pipeline,” CTIA CEO Meredith Baker said in a statement. CTIA is a trading group representing the wireless industry. Bidders are still in a quiet period, when they are not allowed to comment publicly.
The 280 megahertz spectrum to be taken in this auction is the average band spectrum, sometimes called the “goldilocks band”, which means it is suitable for 5G networks, combining the ability to transmit huge amounts of data with a wavelength that can travel a lot. distances.
The results are in line with previous industry expectations. Verizon and AT&T were expected to be the largest providers because they did not have much mid-band spectrum. T-Mobile has already acquired some midband through the merger with Sprint.
Not all spectrum was sold at once. The 280 MHz spectrum was divided into blocks smaller than 20 MHz and further divided into 406 geographical regions. Together, there were 5,684 takeover licenses.
In total, the top three US carriers won 90% of the licenses at auction.
Here are the top five FCC bidders:
- The Cellco partnership: $ 45,454,843,197
- AT&T Spectrum Frontiers LLC: $ 23,406,860,839
- T-Mobile License LLC: $ 9,336,125,147
- United States Cellular Corporation : $ 1,282,641,542
- The new level II, LP: $ 1,277,395,688
The top five bidders by number of licenses were:
- The Cellco partnership: 3,511
- AT&T Spectrum Frontiers LLC: 1,621
- United States Cellular Corp..: 254
- T-Mobile License LLC: 142
- Canopy Spectrum, LLC: 84
US Cellular is the fourth largest carrier in the United States. NewLevel II is the private equity firm Grain Management, while Canopy Spectrum is a joint venture between former Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche and investor Edward Moise Jr., according to LightReading.