US mobile operators Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile US have agreed to swap a number of their unused spectrum licences to rationalise their footprints and better align their spectrum blocks. The telcos have asked the Federal Communications Commission…
US mobile operators Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile US have agreed to swap a number of their unused spectrum licences to rationalise their footprints and better align their spectrum blocks.
The telcos have asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve the transaction, which involves AWS and PCS frequencies, according to a regulatory filing.
The FCC will likely green-light the swap in late Q1/early Q2 next year according to Jonathan Chaplin, an analyst at New Street Research.
The exchange could come ahead of a much larger deal as T-Mobile has been consistently linked with an acquisition of Verizon’s 700 MHz A block spectrum. An agreement for those airwaves is close and could generate more than US$3bn for Verizon, according to a Bloomberg report.
Last month T-Mobile raised US$3.8bn by issuing debt and equity. It said it planned to use the proceeds from those offerings for spectrum acquisitions and that it was close to a deal with an unidentified private party, through to be Verizon.
