AT&T to Use Auction Winnings to Boost Downlink Performance
Jan 30, 2015, 4:23 PM by Eric M. Zeman
updated Jan 30, 2015, 4:29 PM
AT&T today said its winnings from the recently concluded FCC AWS-3 spectrum auction give it a near contiguous 10x10MHz block of spectrum across much of the country. The J Block spectrum covers 306 million people, or 96% of the U.S. population and 96 of the top 100 markets. AT&T said it expects to begin deploying LTE service on the spectrum in the 2017-2018 timeframe. It will initially use the spectrum to supplement its downlink services. AT&T needs to work with the FCC, NTIA, DOD, and other federal agencies so it can eventually support uplink capacity. AT&T spent $18.2 billion to acquire the licenses. "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 AT&T's John Stankey, chief strategy officer. AT&T said data traffic on its network has increased 100,000 percent from January 2007 through December 2014. Verizon also commented on its winnings. Verizon scored 181 licenses covering 192 million POPs, or 61% of the U.S. Verizon said it would have more to say about its plans for the spectrum next month.
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