AT&T in a statement, announced that it has successfully acquired licenses for a contiguous 10x10 MHz block of Advanced Wireless Services (AWS)-3 spectrum in Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Auction 97 sale of airwaves for mobile data. AT&T won the the much needed spectrum with its $18.2 billion bid. The spectrum to be awarded to AT&T includes 57 percent of MHz POPs covered by the valuable J-block of AWS-3 spectrum. As a result of the acquisition, AT&T said it can now cover 96 percent of the U.S. population with high-value contiguous AWS-3 spectrum.
At the same time Verizon, the U.S. largest wireless carrier, comes second with a total 181 licenses with a $10.4 billion bid. The third largest wireless carrier, Sprint however did not participate in the Auction 97. The aggressive contender in the US mobile market, T-Mobile has managed to pick up about $1.8 billion in licenses during the auction.
According to AT&T, it will work with network and handset suppliers, and industry standards bodies to deploy the spectrum beginning in the 2017-2018 period, allowing the company to stay ahead of strong growth in mobile Internet traffic. Mobile data traffic on AT&T’s national wireless network increased 100,000 percent from January 2007 through December 2014. AT&T anticipates putting this spectrum into service as a supplemental downlink to deliver additional mobile Internet capacity and better performance for its customers. AT&T added that will work with the FCC, NTIA, DOD, and other federal agencies to also support uplink capacity as soon as possible.
John Stankey, Chief Strategy Officer, AT&T
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.
