AT&T has purchased a total of $2.5 billion in spectrum licenses covering 196 million people in 281 markets in the much coveted 700Mhz band that has been the subject of much speculation in recent months.
The licenses were purchased from Aloha Partners LP and the deal allows AT&T to make immediate use of some of the spectrum once the purchase is completed in six to nine months, with the rest of the spectrum available in an undisclosed timeframe.
Speculation runs high that the most likely use of the new spectrum would be mobile television, as AT&T selected Qualcomm’s MediaFLO platform as its mobile television service of choice earlier this year, which uses the upper end of the 700Mhz band to broadcast its service currently only available on Verizon Wireless.
AT&T had previously stated a Fall launch of MediaFLO services and compatible handsets, but so far nothing has been said to confirm or devices seen to back up the prior statement made earlier this year.
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[...] AT&T, LTE AT&T has announced in a press conference, reported by Engadget Mobile, that they will deploy their LTE (Long Term Evolution) wireless infrastructure across the recently-acquired 700 MHz B Block as well as on the their 700 MHz spectrum recently purchased from private firm Aloha Partners. [...]