AT&T borrows $14.7 billion to buy spectrum
AT&T has entered into a loan agreement worth US$14.7 billion with Bank of America as it seeks to raise money for what looks set to be a hefty bill from the ongoing C-band spectrum auction.
The US operator shared the information in an SEC filing, which stated that it will use the proceeds of the loan for general corporate purposes, “which may include among other things, financing acquisitions of additional spectrum.”
It’s a huge loan, but hardly comes as a surprise.
The operator is one of a number of big telcos expected to shoulder the lion’s share of the financial burden of the FCC’s auction of 3.7 GHz (C-band) frequencies, which raised a staggering $80.92 billion in the first stage. Phase one drew to a close last month and the second phase – the assignment stage, in which telcos bid for their position on the spectrum – is due to get underway on Monday, but is not likely to add a significant amount to the auction total. However, as Sasha Javid, spectrum specialist, and COO of broadcast data network BitPath, has pointed out, the winning bidders will share an obligation to pay out an additional $13 billion to the satellite incumbents in clearing and relocation costs, which pushes the auction total further towards the $100 billion mark.
We won’t know who has won what or for how much until after phase two is completed, but it’s a pretty safe bet that AT&T could be handing over as much as tens of billions of dollars.
There are similar reports about Verizon, while T-Mobile US is expected to have committed a smaller amount. But it’s all relative. Last month T-Mobile tapped the bond markets to the tune of $3 billion, also with a view to financing spectrum acquisitions.
Unnamed sources cited by Bloomberg leaked the AT&T loan information a couple of weeks ago. At the time the newswire noted that the one-year structure of the loan suggests that the telco will refinance it in the bond market at a later date. AT&T now has confirmed that the loan is available for a single draw at any time before 29 May; once drawn, it will be payable in 364 days.
On a price per MHz/pop basis, the C-band auction did not raise unreasonably big sums, but the volume of spectrum being fought over – 280 MHz – means operators that win a large amount of spectrum will have to pay a large amount for the privilege. And that’s putting it mildly. No wonder we’re seeing multi-billion-dollar loan deals.
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Has anyone done any research into how auction bids are affected by interest rates? The vast sums raised in the C-band auction would have presented massive financing/refinancing problems in the good old days of 5%+ interest rates – I’m old enough to have had a 13% mortgage.
Interesting. Thanks!
Just say NO.
My parents in early 1980’s had an 18% mortgage rate in Southern California!
So this means we’ll be paying more
For our internet and phone service.
I know you’ll say no but I know we will and you do too.
Yes, the government wouldn’t have made nearly as much in the good old days.
How about AT&T get better customer service or get fiber out to more neighborhoods.
Spectrum. All the way back to time magazine 1927. Sold over and over with the principals making hundreds of millions while the companies fight to stay alive. Congress broke up AT&T in 1984. So it looks like here we go again.
MaBell strikes again. If AT&T does to spectrum what it did to Directv, service is really going to stink!
Bro they’re buying into “THE Spectrum” “a frequency” to expand their telecommunications
Not “Spectrum” who is owned by Charter Communications…
I’m surprised that when people actually read the article they still don’t understand what’s going on…
This is America now?
Thank you! I have friends who have been offered a “spectrum modem” and they think At&t owns Spectrum.
Let’s hope AT&T has better internet and a good price for seniors.I cancel spectrum.80 monthly for internet that was down most of the overnight hours.
Hey, Everette, Spectrum has a special wireless program for seniors but you have to ask for it. It’s 15.00 a month. It’s called “Internet Assist” program and is available to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) customers 65 and older. Hope that helps you!
Such an idiotic headline….you know there is a cable/internet company named…Spectrum…right?
I didn’t, but if that was the subject of the headline it would have been capitalised, wouldn’t it? Try to get out more, Cris.
You never heard of Spectrum?
Time Warner?
Where do you live?
Antarctica
Some people read a word in the headline and comment like the read the whole story…smh
such an idiotic comment. Now the debate went off on a complete tangent and you created a rumour that was never there in the first place
This farce should be illegal. There needs to be more competition in the ISP industry
Dear Lord no! Everything this awful company touches turns into a steaming pile of dog poo. Spectrum is barely tolerable as it is. They destroyed directv. Whatcha the same thing happen to their Spectrum unit if they somehow convince regulators to allow the sale.
IF AT&T ACCUIRES SPECTRUM THEY WILL DESTROY THEM JUST LIKE THEY DID WITH DIRECTV. I KNOW, I WAS WITH DIRECTV FOR 20 YEARS AND AFTER AT&T AQUIRED THEM CUSTOMERS SERVICE, EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES WENT TO HELL. I SWITCHED TO SPECTRUM CHARTER IN DECEMBER 2019 AND NOW I SEE THIS!
AT&T KEEPS DESTROYING OUR INTERNET, MOBILE AND TV SERVICE!
This has nothing to do with the cable TV provider named Spectrum. The word spectrum is defined as a band of a particular thing. In this case it’s a signal band for cellular connection.
Wasn’t Spectrum, once part of AT&T?
AT&T is the worst phone company I’ve ever dealt with, they messed up on my account not once, but three times!! Then they wanted to charge me for their mistakes, I’m in the process of suing them and also the president of AT&T.
I was told that the president of AT&T doesn’t deal with customers by one of his clients from his office and if that’s the case then he shouldn’t of taken on a job like AT&T, what does he expect if his own employees cannot fix an issue, that we just deal with it and keep being charged hundreds of dollars for their mistakes?! Yeah, I don’t think so!
Spectrum also bought Time Warner Cable . Gave only preexisting customers used , out dated equipment . I seem to have to get a new cable box or remote every three months .
This is for a license to operate cell phones on a certain band. This has nothing to do with the cable TV provider named Spectrum. Reading the comments it seems like many people don’t understand this
Obviously some people only read the headline and not the story.
This concerns me as I currently have AT&T for home phone and Internet. The price keeps going up and the service down, down, down. If AT&T has purchased Spectrum we (where I live) are is a whole world of hurt! The only two ISP’s available to us is AT&T and Spectrum.. Now only AT&T?? Isn’t this called a monopoly? Where is the FCC on this issue?
Understanding the Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust makes monopoly power illegal. Under the Sherman Act monopoly power is considered the ability of a business to control a price within its relevant product market or its geographic market or to exclude a competitor from doing business within its relevant product market or geographic market. In order to meet this definition, it is only necessary to prove that the business had the power to fix prices or exclude competitors. The plaintiff does not need to prove that prices were actually raised or that competitors were actually excluded from the market.
“Since the passage of the Sherman Act, however, court rulings have shaped the definition of monopoly power. Proving that a company violated the Sherman Antitrust Act requires more than just proving that the company exercised a monopoly. A plaintiff or the government must show that a monopoly existed, and that said power was accompanied by some anti-competitive act by the offending company in a relevant market.”
I had AT&T for my TV, Internet and Cell Phone and I loved how many shows I could record, in fact I never watched live TV but my bill jumped from $179 to $250 one jump! I hated their customer service and it wasn’t uncommon for me to be on hold for 45 minutes to over an hour so I’d just put my phone on speaker and go about my business. But the $250 was way too much considering that I didn’t have HBO or Cinemax or any additional movie channels, so I just switched to Spectrum and now I find out that AT&T is taking them over! There goes my lower bill! 😤
Att’s personnel lied and sold me an old cell phone by insisting that it was free.
I mentioned that their written contract stated that it would charge me for the next 3 years if I left the service. They claimed that it was only for audit purposes and the reassured me that the phone was free.
I only received a bill for my internet and home phone. And much much later another bill for the cell phone which shocked me.
It took days and many hours waiting for their customer service to answer me that I now was stuck with their contract. Their customer service claimed that the internet department was separate from the cell phone and they did not have access to my entire bill.
Too late to get out of the imposed contract, their supervisor advised me to pay for the unwanted phone in its entirety to get out of their contract. I refused.
Ever since they keep surprising me with unexpected increased bills stating that these are the gov. Fees and charges. And yet they advertise for the lowest prices only later on to surprise customers with unexpected charges.
They recently sent me a “new” contract stating that I am now bound by this new contract that only allows arbitration and not class action and that they can raise their prices, etc.
Att is unethical and deceptive. They should be regulated and have less power. Any brave lawyers or entities out their to help the consumers to stop these practices?
Spectrum Internet isn’t great either. ATT isn’t the only one with bad customer service. Spectrum bought Time-Warner. I had internet service with Time-Warner. The service I had said 120 MBPS. I get 70. After calling Spectrum I was told that my program was “legacy” and didn’t exist under the new owner. They SHOWED 120 on my account, but if I wanted that speed I’d have to pay a higher fee. That smells like false advertising to me.
I sure hope AT& T know what they are getting. I live in a 90+ home subdivision next to Asheville NC in the County Town of Arden that has been having major issues with Spectrum signal and connection reliability and it has been long suspected that it is due to outdated failing feeder line that is used to tap into. Spectrum is not fixing it and basically sending out technician after technician when we call and telling us they can’t solve the issue. Fixing the infrastructure is expensive and I wonder how much of Spectrum’s system is deteriorated and need of updated repair? I personally have had no ability to rely on Spectrum internet use for over the last month and erratically over the last two years. Being in the Western North Carolina Mountain Region the options for connection are limited.
I was with Direct TV from 1987 and then AT&T bought Direct TV. I left AT&T within a few months after dealing with AT&T and bought service with Spectrum. Now I understand At&T has purchased Spectrum. Time to find another provider. I will go without service if AT&T is anyway involved in providing anything/service.
Time for us all to send massive protests to our Congressional officials over monopoly power and control causing no customer choice from differing provider companies for services.
This story refers to ‘spectrum’ with a lower-case ‘s’.