What will be the next big deal in telecom after AT&T and Time Warner?

AT&T’s giant $85.4 billion deal for Time Warner likely will satiate AT&T in the mergers & acquisitions space, at least for a time. After all, AT&T failed to acquire T-Mobile in 2011, but was successful in purchasing DirecTV in 2015 for around $49 billion. And AT&T executives have argued that the carrier’s purchase of Time Warner will be successful since it’s a “vertical” acquisition rather than a “horizontal” transaction involving two players in the same industry.

So if AT&T is busy buying Time Warner, what will happen next? First, it’s clear the stage is set for further M&A. The Federal Communications Commission’s ongoing incentive auction of TV broadcasters’ unwanted 600 MHz spectrum is likely to end later this year or early next year. And the presidential election will be over Nov. 8, paving the way for some kind of stability at the FCC and the Department of Justice. Possibilities: Comcast, Charter, Altice and cable; T-Mobile and Sprint; Dish (an outlier); and Verizon.