AT&T announced on Friday that it will acquire 700 MHz spectrum from Verizon Wireless in a cash transaction valued at $1.9 billion. The 700 MHz band was originally used for broadcasting analog TV channels, and was put up for auction in 2008. AT&T plans to use the spectrum to enhance its 4G LTE coverage.
The 700 MHz license AT&T is acquiring from Verizon covers 42 million people in 18 states: California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.
AT&T is acquiring AWS spectrum licenses in several markets, including Phoenix, Arizona, Los Angeles and Fresno, California and Portland, Oregon.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and should close in H2 2013.
AT&T announced on Tuesday that it had acquired spectrum, licenses, and the U.S. retail operations of Alltel for $780 million. AT&T will gain approximately 580,000 subscribers in the deal.
