T-Mobile, Dish, Comcast buy big in FCC’s incentive auction

The FCC concluded its incentive auction of 600 MHz airwaves. T-Mobile, Dish, and Comcast were the most active bidders, spending $8 billion, $6.2 billion, and $1.7 billion respectively. AT&T spent $910 million -- with its spectrum needs met by the FirstNet public safety deal -- and Verizon spent nothing. The auction was a way to transfer airwaves from TV stations to other companies that rely on spectrum as demand for wireless Internet increases. T-Mobile’s aggressive bid was somewhat surprising -- some analysts view it as a move to increase the company’s value ahead of merger talks while others see it as evidence T-Mobile will remain a stand-alone wireless provider, at least in the near-term. At any rate, with the conclusion of the auction, the “quiet period” barring M&A discussions ends on April 27. Let the fun and games begin!

Links:

T-Mobile, Dish and Comcast top bidders in incentive auction while Verizon looks on (FireceWireless, Apr. 13, 2017)

Mapping T-Mobile, Dish, Comcast and AT&T: Who got how much 600 MHz spectrum and where? (FierceWireless, Apr. 18, 2017)