AT&T will pay $18.2 billion as the winning bidder on a near nationwide contiguous 10x10 MHz block of AWS-3 spectrum in the FCC's just completed Auction 97.
The licenses cover 307 million people representing 96 percent of the U.S. population and 96 of the Top 100 U.S. markets. AT&T said this spectrum includes 57 percent of MHz POPs covered by the valuable J-block of AWS-3 spectrum.
“Growth in our customers’ mobile data usage continues to explode, driven by mobile video traffic. This spectrum investment will be critical to AT&T staying ahead of customer demand and facilitate the next generation of mobile video entertainment,” said John Stankey, chief strategy officer-AT&T.
AT&T also stated that this spectrum investment, along with its other pending acquisitions, may cause the company to go above its 1.8x net-debt-to-EBITDA target. The company will use excess cash — after paying its dividend — over the next three years to pay down debt, and expects to return to historical debt ratios.
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- The FCC's Advanced Wireless Services (AWS-3) Auction 97 raised a record $44.899 billion in bids. A total of 1,611 licenses total were, covering 65 MHz of spectrum in the 1695-1710 MHz, 1755-1780 MHz, and 2155-2180 MHz bands ("AWS-3" bands).
