Spectrum Snapshot: AT&T becomes the second-largest spectrum holder in the US after EchoStar trade

This week, EchoStar announced that it would sell approximately 30 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band and 20 MHz in the 600 MHz band to AT&T for $23 billion.

Data from the PolicyTracker Spectrum Database (PSD), which tracks spectrum assignments in over 140 countries, reveals that AT&T will significantly expand its spectrum assets if the purchase proceeds as planned.

Excluding mmWave holdings, AT&T will have a total of 375 MHz of population-weighted spectrum to its name. This means the company is second only to T-Mobile, which remains the dominant holder of spectrum in the country. Verizon, the third major player in the US market, has been bumped into third place, with 279 MHz of spectrum.

Use the interactive graph below to see the change for yourself.

The spectrum trade was also noted for its dollar amount, with the total cost higher than the total spend in some recent European country-wide 5G auctions.

EchoStar spent around $6.2 billion to acquire rights in the 600 MHz band at auction in 2017. In the 2022 auction of the 3.45 GHz band, it paid $7.3 billion. This adds up to a total spend of $13.5 billion, suggesting EchoStar may have profited by around $9.5 billion from selling spectrum to AT&T.

When breaking down spectrum holdings by band, we can see that T-Mobile still dominates the picture.

This is in large part due to the company’s large spectrum holdings in the 2.5 GHz band, also known as the EBS band. T-Mobile has been aggressive in leasing and purchasing spectrum in this band, which was originally intended for educational institutions.

After the sale, EchoStar is left with around 76 MHz of spectrum in three bands. Its largest assets are in AWS-4 (40 MHz), followed by AWS-3 (21 MHz). AWS bands are roughly analogous to the European 2.1 GHz and 1800 MHz mobile bands.

It’s unclear if EchoStar has any interest in continuing to operate its own mobile network operator, Boost Mobile, with the company’s press release suggesting it would transform into a “hybrid” operator.

It would certainly be more difficult to do so now that the company has reduced the size of its spectrum assets by more than a third.

EchoStar has not ruled out selling more. The company’s CEO and president said the company would “continue to evaluate strategic opportunities for our remaining spectrum portfolio in partnership with the U.S. government and wireless industry participants”.

The data in this snapshot came from the PolicyTracker Spectrum Database (PSD). This industry-leading database tracks national and regional spectrum assignments in over 140 countries. The PSD is available as part of the Spectrum Research Service as an Excel file or as an interactive web-based platform.