(credit: T-Mobile)
T-Mobile US says it has more money than it needs as it gets ready for a major spectrum auction scheduled for early next year. The company wants to get enough low-band spectrum to cover the whole US, and will be able to achieve that with billions of dollars to spare, T-Mobile CFO Braxton Carter said today at a financial conference hosted in Arizona by Deutsche Bank.
After consulting with the major credit rating agencies, T-Mobile found that it can spend up to $ 10 billion without harming its ratings. But T-Mobile will probably only need $ 1 billion or so to achieve its primary goal at the auction, Carter said. (Here’s a recording of Carter’s remarks; FierceWireless also has a roundup of what he said.)
The Federal Communications Commission auction will shift airwaves in the 600MHz range from TV broadcasters to wireless carriers. These low-band frequencies are crucial for building a cellular network that can cover long distances and penetrate building walls. One macrocell tower that uses low-band spectrum can cover the same geographic area as five macrocells using the mid-band spectrum T-Mobile typically relies upon, Carter said.
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