FCC grants AT&T approval to buy Qualcomm spectrum

AT&T received a Christmas present from the Federal Communications Commission: an approval to purchase all of Qualcomm's unused 700 MHz spectrum licenses for $1.9 billion. According to one report, the spectrum was "left over from Qualcomm's failed FLO TV mobile TV service." And that it will be used "to speed up AT&T's 4G LTE service."

Specifically, according to the FCC, AT&T received, "six megahertz of unpaired 700 MHz spectrum nationwide and an additional six megahertz of unpaired 700 MHz spectrum in five major metropolitan markets (New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) with population totaling 70 million."

In its approval order, the FCC laid out its rationale for the action:

"We [also] anticipate that the proposed transaction could well facilitate the transition of underutilized unpaired 700 MHz spectrum towards mobile broadband use, thereby supporting our goal of expanding mobile broadband deployment throughout the country."

Most commentators agree that whatever the FCC's intention, it gave AT&T a consolation prize following the Commission's block of the AT&T/T-Mobile merger.

AT&T Gets a Qualcomm Consolation Prize (PCMag.com, Dec. 23, 2011)
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398027,00.asp

AT&T Qualcomm Order (FCC Order, Dec. 22, 2011)
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-11-188A1.doc