T-Mobile to auction off spectrum that cash stapped Dish can’t buy،
Last October, the two companies came together and for the price of $100 million, T-Mobile agreed to extend the option until April 1, 2024. Not only will Dish miss that deadline, it has also paid $100 million that he could hardly use. right now and I haven't received anything in return. According to T Mobile Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik, if Dish does not exercise its option to purchase 800 MHz spectrum on April 1, and he has already said he will not, T Mobile the airwaves will have to be put up for auction.
Dish told the SEC it would not exercise the $3.59 billion option it holds to buy 13.5 MHz of 800 MHz low-band spectrum.
Osvaldik said: “We haven't started this auction yet, but if they choose not to exercise it, that will be the next step for us.” T Mobile will have to hold such an auction by this fall and it will be up to the FCC to decide who can participate in the auction. AT&T and Verizon would naturally be interested in the spectrum because it's right next to the spectrum they already own. But there is a problem that prevents the two majors from buying the airwaves.
As part of the government's deal allowing T-Mobile to buy Sprint, T Mobile is not authorized to sell these airwaves to another national facilities-based mobile wireless network operator, unless it obtains prior permission from the government.
Fierce Wireless says other companies may be interested in the spectrum, including Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, which could use the spectrum to provide wireless services to electric utilities. Another company, Anterix, was started by the founders of Nextel and seeks to sell private LTE wireless service to utilities.
If Dish, as expected, fails to exercise its option to purchase 800 MHz spectrum, T Mobile will be the auctioneer, a role usually played by the FCC.
