According to Fierce Wireless, AT&T can’t gang their downstream-only MediaFLO spectrum on 700 MHz with their existing (but still unused) 12 MHz of 700 MHz frequency pairs, due to interference.
What interference? AT&T is not going into details. Since other carriers operate in adjacent cellular bands, it sounds like a rational for the proposed merger with T-Mobile USA. Is it a legitimate concern? I don’t have the answer, but I’m skeptical.
For the most part, AT&T bought “A” and “B” bands (blue and green) regionally, while Verizon bought the “C” band (yellow), nationally. Channel 55 and 56 were Qualcomm’s unpaired (6MHz) channels, now the property of AT&T.
Now AT&T is talking up a plan to glue on T-Mobile’s AWS spectrum to their 700 MHz LTE network. AT&T said it plans to launch LTE this year, and will cover around 70 million people with LTE by year-end on their 700 MHz frequencies.
But a ganged AWS/700 MHz spectrum approach could be problematic. LTE on AWS (at 1.7/2.1GHz) has about one third the range as LTE on 700 Mhz.
In 2008, AT&T bid $6.6 billion to acquire an additional 227 B Block licenses during the FCC’s 700 MHz auction. In a number of places AT&T bought both the B and C block licenses in the Lower 700 MHz band, giving them double the bandwidth – 24 MHz total.
Later, AT&T acquired 700 MHz spectrum from Hiwire in a $2.5 billion deal and Qualcomm’s unpaired MediaFLO licences for $1.93 billion for 12MHz of the lower 700MHz D and E block.
AT&T also bought Paul Allen’s 700 MHZ Vulcan Spectrum licenses in Washington and Oregon that he acquired in 2003, for an undisclosed price. Vulcan Spectrum’s A- block licenses, which also cover the Seattle and Portland areas, weren’t included in the proposed sale to AT&T.
AT&T’s total investment in 700 MHz spectrum is therefore $6.6B (from the FCC’s 2008 auction) + $2.5B (Aloha Partners purchase) + $1.9B (Qualcomm purchase), or a total of $11 billion. Not including Paul Allen’s spectrum. AT&T (under Cingular brand), also bought $1.3 billion in AWS spectrum that they have never activated.
Bottom line: AT&T is sitting on more than $12 Billion in spectrum. At the same time, AT&T says they need to merge with T-Mobile to acquire spectrum and deliver LTE.
It doesn’t add up.
Related stories on DailyWireless include; AT&T Gets Heat on MediaFLO Spectrum, U.S. Wireless Growth, T-Mobile’s Secret Sauce: 2x10MHz, T-Mobile’s Secret Sauce: 2x10MHz, FCC Finalizes Rules on 700MHz: Limited Open Access, No Wholesale Requirement, Qualcomm Buys Flarion, Joint Commecial/Muni Proposed for 700Mhz, AT&T’s WiFi TV, Hiwire Moves on Mobile TV, Mobile TV War at NAB, Small Ops Squeezed Out of 700MHz?, HiWire: 24 Mobile TV Channels, Rural Broadband Gets A Plan, Verizon Makes its Move for Universal Service Fund, The Smartest Guy in the Room, 700 MHz On The Line?, 700 Mhz Worth $28B, 4G Auctions, RUS Funding for 700 MHz, The 700 Mhz Club, Channel 54: Where are You?,
