Comcast CEO says MVNO deal with Verizon includes CBRS offload

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said that the company’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) service runs on “the best network.” Roberts was referring to the fact that Xfinity Wireless rides on Verizon’s network due to a wholesale agreement between the two companies. Roberts bragged that Comcast and Verizon recently updated their agreement to make improvements. The wholesale agreement specifies that Comcast can use its Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum to offload mobile traffic from Verizon’s network. In 2020 Comcast bought $458 million worth of priority access licenses (PALs) of CBRS spectrum. Its cable competitor Charter also participated in the CBRS auction, purchasing $464 million worth of the spectrum. And the two companies, whose MVNOs both ride on Verizon’s network, have alluded to a collaboration related to their CBRS spectrum. They’ve been talking about using CBRS to offload some of their mobile traffic from Verizon’s network to save on wholesale costs. Roberts said as part of its renegotiation of its Verizon contract it solidified its ability to do some offloading of traffic in heavy-traffic areas so it could “become a hybrid MNO,” essentially using Verizon’s network when that makes sense and using its own CBRS spectrum in areas where that’s possible.