After Merger, T-Mobile Gets to Keep 800 MegaHertz Spectrum
The company's auction ended without a qualifying bid, executives said.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2024 – T-Mobile’s auction of its 800 MegaHertz (MHz) holdings ended without a qualifying bidder, executives said at the company’s earnings call Wednesday.
“There wasn’t a qualifying bid, as defined in the consent decree. So we’re no longer required to sell it” said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert. “You’ll have to stay tuned as to our resolution on how we plan to use it.”
He said the company had “a lot of optionality” and neither the cash from selling it nor the coverage boost from deploying it are in the company’s plans. T-Mobile was required to sell the spectrum to Dish as part of its Sprint merger, but Dish couldn’t come up with the necessary cash – T-Mobile asked $3.59 billion at the outset – and it proceeded to the now-closed auction.
