Verizon Wireless - a venture between
Verizon Communications
(
VZ
) and
Vodafone Group Plc
(
VOD
) - announced the sale of three separate 700MHz spectrum blocks
to small rural telecommunication firms.
Verizon sold its Texas RSA 6-Jack 700 MHz lower B-block license
to Muenster based Nortex Communications. The deal covers a
four-county region to the northwest of Dallas. Panhandle
Telecommunication Systems Inc. - that is headquartered in Guymon,
Okla - purchased the Texas RSA 2-Hansford 700 MHz lower B-block
license - spanning 12 counties in the northwest part of Texas. A
partitioned A-Block license extending over a five-county area in
the Houston market was sold to Colorado Valley Communications.
Back in August 2012, Verizon struck a deal with the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to sell its 700 MHz Lower A and B
Block spectrum in order to receive the approval for a $3.9
billion purchase of Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum
from SpectrumCo - a joint venture between
Comcast Corporation
(
CMCSA
), Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.
Since then, the country's largest carrier - Verizon - has been on
the lookout for prospective buyers to part with the spectrum that
it was not using to gather funds for buying a big belt of the AWS
spectrum. Subsequently, Verizon Wireless entered into sales
agreements with seven companies that included one national
company, five rural or regional carriers and one minority-owned
firm. With the completion of three sales, four are still pending
to be closed in the coming days.
In late January, Verizon inked a deal with
AT&T Inc.
(
T
) to sell its 39 lower 700 megahertz (MHz) licenses to AT&T,
covering 42 million people in 18 states including major
territories such as Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami. In exchange,
Verizon will receive $1.9 billion and AWS spectrum licenses in
five markets. The deal - pending approvals from the FCC and the
Department of Justice - will likely be closed in the latter half
of 2013.
We believe the sale of lower spectrum assets and the consequent
purchase of new AWS spectrum will work in favor of Verizon. The
company with the help of AWS spectrum holdings will be able to
double its capacity, provide services at a much higher speed and
expedite the Long Term Evolution (LTE) rollout, thereby driving
data revenues and boosting its competitive position.
We currently, have a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) on Verizon.
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