AT&T completed its acquisition of 700MHz spectrum licences from Qualcomm, having
gained approval for the transaction late in 2011.
The US operator paid around US$1.9 billion for the frequencies, which cover more than 300 million subscribers.
The companies
first announced the deal in December 2010, but the transaction became caught up with AT&T’s
now aborted attempts to acquire T-Mobile USA. At this time, it was noted that the spectrum covers five of the top-15 US metropolitan areas – New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
AT&T previously noted that the newly-acquired frequencies will be used to support its 4G rollout, providing a supplementary download channel alongside its paired spectrum allocation.
Late last year, Verizon Wireless, AT&T’s nearest rival, announced a number of deals intended to improve its spectrum position. It inked a
US$3.6 billion deal with SpectrumCo, a joint venture of several cable companies, as well as acquiring frequencies from
Leap Wireless and
Cox Communications.