Verizon Wireless, AT&T Announce Spectrum License Transactions

Verizon Wireless announced today it has signed agreements to complete a number of spectrum license transactions, including license sale, purchase and lease agreements.

The agreements cover the following transactions:

• Verizon Wireless will sell 39 lower 700 MHz B Block licenses to AT&T in exchange for a payment of $1.9 billion, and the transfer by AT&T to Verizon Wireless of AWS (10 MHz) licenses in certain western markets, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Fresno and Portland, Oregon.
• Verizon Wireless will sell lower 700 MHz B Block licenses covering the Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh-Durham markets in North Carolina to Grain Management, a Sarasota, Florida-based private equity firm that invests in the telecommunications sector, in exchange for a payment of $189 million.
• Verizon Wireless will lease from Grain Management an AWS license covering Dallas, Texas, which Grain is acquiring from AT&T.

The transactions are subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). In April, Verizon pledged to sell off two 12MHz blocks of mobile spectrum in the 700MHz band, including the B block, if U.S. regulators approved its purchase of spectrum from a group of cable providers.