AT&T acquired 700MHz spectrum from Redwood Wireless (MN / WI)
Last week, the FCC moved to approve AT&T's pending transfer of spectrum from Redwood Wireless LLC. Being this is my neck of the woods, I thought it would be interesting to construct some maps showing how the MN/WI picture will look for 700 MHz spectrum after the purchase. Overall, there were 22 licenses in play, covering both Blocks A,B as well as C,D.
Here is the FCC link: http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/Appl...applID=6037998
As of 1/23/2012, it was moved to 'Consented To'. My understanding is that short of the remaining paperwork, this will be completed as applied for. So AT&T should now have some more 700MHz spectrum in MN and WI as a result.
A few things to consider when reading these:
1. This does not show AT&T's acquired Qualcomm block E spectrum which they recently took over. In general, all areas of MN and WI will have 6MHz of spectrum in block E that currently AT&T is stating that they will use as an aggregate carrier for downloads on LTE.
2. This only shows CMA's and not BEA's which some other owners may have some spectrum pockets for. I'll list those in a general list below however.
3. This doesn't show Verizon's spectrum of 700MHz. VZ own's a blanket 22Mhz chunck of the 700MHz spectrum in the Great Lakes Region (REA003) in the Upper C band. (746-757MHz, 767-787MHz). You can see the unexciting map here: http://www.rcrwireless.com/assets/jpg/cwinners1.jpg
4. Block A/B will get you 11MHz, Same as Block C/D. In theory, with 11MHz, AT&T can deploy a 2x5MHz LTE and then supplement with their Qualcomm purchase of 6MHz for download speeds. So in areas of owning both, they have the same amount as VZ but overall, if they own a chunk, they should be able to deploy LTE if they choose.
Here is the purchase. Notice that some of the areas they are actually picking up both sides, thus the darker shading.
Here is the overall AT&T 700Mhz picture after factoring in this pickup.
Here is MN/WI by CMA for Blocks A/B:
Here is the MN/WI by CMA for Blocks C/D:
Some interesting notes:
1. No idea what this cost AT&T. I have to see a dollar amount attached to it.
2. The following larger cities have no 700MHz owned AT&T spectrum so if you were thinking that AT&T would have LTE to you anytime soon, I wouldn't count on it:
- MN: Fargo, Grand Forks
- WI: Wausau, Green Bay, all of northern WI including the Lake Michigan area.
As for the BEAs, here are the major ones. I've left out the listed ones that seem non relevant. I'm not even sure sure how a BEA works but it seems like they are a slightly different spectrum.
-MN: Cell Co is leasing some 700MHz from VZ in MSP/STP area as well as the Rochester area.
-MN: US Cellular owns a pocket in the Rochester, MN area.
-MN: Cellcom owns some in Duluth/Superior area.
-WI: US Cellular owns some in the Madison/Milwaukee/Racine/Appleton/Oshkosh area.
-WI: Cellcom owns some in the Superior area
Anyways, should hopefully be a good thing and hopefully AT&T jumps on actually using the spectrum soon! It would give them a nice 4G LTE coverage area in most of MN and at least the bottom half of WI. This would be a nice situation to fix their poor coverage in the SW part of WI.
Doing the analysis, it seemed more clear that an attempt for a smaller company like US Cellular might be in the cards for AT&T. It's small enough to probably squeak past the DoJ at the same time bring a lot of spectrum and a about 6 million new customers to them. It would nicely fix their spectrum issues in WI and Chicago for sure.
Think farther south too. AT&T would be able to deploy LTE over the entire state of Illinois with USCC spectrum. They would have to divest some CLR likely but probably not any of the 700 or AWS.
There was some others approved in the same slot by the FCC. Mostly small areas but it included some in Portland, Idaho and Kansas. If anyone is interested you can find them via the FCC database. Just dig into the attachments.
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