Verizon Eyes Clearwire Airwaves - Analyst Blog
April 17 2013 - 10:18AM
Zacks
Verizon Wireless, a unit of
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) reportedly has
plans to acquire airwave licenses for major cities in the U.S. from
Clearwire Corporation (CLWR). On Apr 8, Verizon
made an offer of approximately $1 billion to $1.5 billion,
excluding the present value of airwaves leased. We believe the odds
against this deal remains much higher given the intervention of
Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), which is a major
shareholder in Clearwire and proposes to acquire the latter.
However, if Verizon acquires these airwaves from Clearwire it would
add to the company’s current network expansion plans. The company
is trying to enhance its existing network capabilities to offer
uninterrupted wireless experience to its customers. In this
context, the company is working over spectrum acquisition that can
support expansion plans in data services.
The company has already received approval from the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to buy wireless spectrum from
Spectrum Co., which is a joint venture between Comcast Corporation,
Time Warner Cable Inc. and Bright House Networks in Aug 2012. The
deal is priced at $3.9 billion.
To raise funds for this transaction, Verizon struck a deal with
AT&T, Inc. (T) to sell 39 lower 700 megahertz
(MHz) licenses to the latter. In exchange, Verizon will receive
$1.9 billion and Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum licenses
in five markets.
Additionally, Verizon planned the sale of three separate 700MHz
spectrum blocks to small rural telecommunication firms. We believe
the sale of lower spectrum assets and the consequent purchase of
new AWS spectrum will work in favor of Verizon. The AWS spectrum
holdings will double Verizon’s capacity as well as enable services
at a much higher speed and expedite the LTE rollout, thereby
driving data revenues and boosting its competitive position.
CLEARWIRE CORP (CLWR): Free Stock Analysis Report
SPRINT NEXTEL (S): Free Stock Analysis Report
AT&T INC (T): Free Stock Analysis Report
VERIZON COMM (VZ): Free Stock Analysis Report
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