This week AT&T and Verizon Wireless have closed a business deal that will see the companies swap some 4G LTE. In a deal reportedly worth roughly $1.9 billion, AT&T has just bought tons of spectrum from Verizon Wireless. The two first agreed to the deal back in January as Verizon was snapping up spectrum from others, and now it’s a done deal. Read on to see how this will improve AT&T’s offering.
The deal will see Verizon transfer 39 700MHz LTE spectrums to AT&T, while gaining some AWS for themselves. The spectrum being tossed around in the deal closing today is Verizon’s 700 MHz B band. Which just so happens to cover over 42 million people across 18 states.
Some of the 42 states in the deal include Colorado, Florida, Texas, and Utah. Basically 18 different states from California to Florida. Importantly many of these areas have 4G from AT&T, but not LTE speeds. Which means this will benefit both parties as AT&T gives more users high-speed data, and Verizon gets a little AWS spectrum. Which is set to improve network speeds in parts of California and Arizona mainly.
This is one spectrum swap in a long line over the past 12-16 months, which have all been closely followed by the FCC. This is a likely a response to the failed attempts at buying T-Mobile last year. Also, it’s worth noting that T-Mobile bought up some from US Cellular earlier this year. 4G LTE for everyone! Full PR details are available from the via below.
VIA: AT&T Blog
As long as it has no ill affect on my VZW speeds, then II can care less! At&t would be my next option if they were much cheaper than VZW
AT&T = nickel and dime you to death with fees, overages, and exorbitant plan pricing.