The two companies met in October of last year, agreeing to $100 million for T-Mobile to extend its option until April 1, 2024. Not only did Dish miss that deadline, it paid the $100 million it needed right now and got nothing in return. According to T-Mobile CFO Peter Osvaldik, if Dish doesn’t exercise its option to buy the 800 MHz spectrum on April 1 (which it has already said it won’t), T-Mobile will have to auction off the airwaves.
Dish told the SEC that it would not exercise a $3.59 billion option it holds to buy 13.5 MHz of 800 MHz of low-band spectrum.
“The auction hasn’t started yet, but if they choose not to exercise it, that would be the next step for us,” Osvaldik said. T-Mobile has until this fall to hold such an auction, and it will be up to the FCC to decide who can bid. AT&T and Verizon would naturally be interested in the spectrum, since it’s right next to spectrum they already own. But there’s an issue that could prevent the two giants from buying it. As part of the government agreement that allowed T-Mobile to acquire Sprint, T-Mobile can’t sell those spectrums to other nationwide facilities-based mobile wireless network operators unless it gets prior approval from the government.
Fierce Wireless said other companies may also be interested in the spectrum, including Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, which could use the band to provide wireless services to electric utilities. Another company, Anterix, founded by the founders of Nextel, is looking to sell private LTE wireless services to electric utilities.
If Dish does not exercise its option to buy the 800 MHz spectrum as expected, T-Mobile will act as the auctioneer, a role normally filled by the FCC.
