AT&T's Low Band 5G | 700MHz or Cellular Thu, May 09, 2019

Late last year, AT&T began to discuss refarming their low-band spectrum for 5G, but they didn't indicate which of their low band spectrum blocks would be used. With some spectrum acquisitions that have been filed over the last 6 months, I believe their plans are becoming more clear. The 3 blocks of low band spectrum that AT&T controls are 700MHz (A,B, and C channels), 700MHz (FirstNet), and the Cellular (A & B channels). I am going to assume that the FirstNet spectrum is not being considered since it must support public safety networks, leaving the 700MHz and Cellular bands for refarming. The first indicator, was AT&T's acquisition of FBS 700's spectrum in South Dakota and their acquisition of part of C Spire's 700MHz spectrum in the southeast.

To see AT&T's total 700MHz spectrum, we used Allnet Insights' Mobile Carrier - Spectrum Ownership Analysis Tool to total AT&T's ownership of the 700MHz A, B, and C channels in each US county. In the counties where they own all three channels, they could deploy a 15MHz 5G channel. From the map below, it appears that AT&T would cover most of the US with a 10MHz 5G channel.

The next map highlights the counties where AT&T controls both cellular channels (A & B). In the limited markets where they control both channels (Texas and Florida), they could have a 5G channel size of 20MHz, but for most of the country that would be limited to a 10MHz 5G channel size. It is important to remember that the areas where AT&T doesn't control any cellular spectrum the bands are controlled by USCellular and/or Verizon, making cellular spectrum acquisitions unlikely.

Another important way to evaluate the usefulness of each band is to measure the amount of population that can be reach with the licenses in each band. To evaluate this we used the Licensed POPs Analysis Module from the Mobile Carrier - Spectrum Ownership Analysis Tool. Since AT&T's 700MHz spectrum covers 44 million addition people compared to AT&T's Cellular spectrum, I believe that AT&T is planning to utilize their 700MHz spectrum for their upcoming Low Band 5G deployments. This appears to be confirmed by AT&T's recent acquisitions.

AT&T / Plateau FCC Competitive Market Review Mon, May 11, 2015

The FCC just completed their market review of the AT&T purchase of Plateau/ENMR wireless spectrum and customers. Linked below is the review which includes an overview of the spectrum holdings of major carriers in each market, the available spectrum in each market, and the amount of spectrum that AT&T would hold post transition. This is a great example of the new enhanced review.

Applications of AT&T Inc., E.N.M.R. TelephoneCooperative, Plateau Telecommunications, Inc.,New Mexico RSA 4 East Limited Partnership, andTexas RSA 3 Limited Partnership

Channel 51 - Bend OR and Market Updates Tue, Apr 14, 2015

Yesterday, the FCC approved a Channel 51 transition in Bend, OR. The movement of this TV station from Channel 51 to Channel 18, will eliminate the adjacent channel interference risk to T-Mobile's 700MHz A-Block spectrum in rural Oregon. It eliminates interference concerns across 7 counties with a total population of 709,258 Below is a listing of the currently filed Channel 51 transitions. Each of the Daily Digest dates is linked to the filed information.

Final Daily Digest	Initial Daily Digest	Market	Call Sign	Current Channel	Proposed Channel
	12/13/2013	Oklahoma City, OK	KSBI(TV)	51	23
	9/4/2014	Rome, GA	WPXA(TV)	51	31
	9/4/2014	Kansas City, MO	KPXE-TV	51	30
12/23/2014	9/18/2014	Dayton, OH	WKEF(TV)	51	18
12/16/2014	10/17/2014	Denver, CO	KCEC(TV)	51	26
	12/8/2014	Longview, TX	KCEB	51	26

2/11/2015 1/7/2015 Lansing, MI WLAJ-TV 51 25
4/10/2015 Bend, OR KOHD 51 18

AllNet's Spectrum Ownership Analysis Tool has incorporated the Channel 51 interference issue into our Spectrum Grid module. From this module, you can see the 700MHz A-Block owner and an indication of whether Channel 51 is licensed in that particular county. Green highlights over the Channel 51 call sign indicate that a transition plan has been approved, yellow highlights indicate that a transition plan has been filed, and red highlights indicate the markets where interference issues will persist.

Channel 51 - Lansing MI Thu, Feb 12, 2015

Yesterday, the FCC approved a Channel 51 transition in Lansing, MI. The movement of this TV station from Channel 51 to Channel 25, will eliminate the adjacent channel interference risk to T-Mobile's 700MHz A-Block spectrum in Detroit. Below is a listing of the currently filed Channel 51 transitions. Each of the Daily Digest dates is linked to the filed information.

Final Daily Digest	Initial Daily Digest	Market	Call Sign	Current Channel	Proposed Channel
	12/13/2013	Oklahoma City, OK	KSBI(TV)	51	23
	9/4/2014	Rome, GA	WPXA(TV)	51	31
	9/4/2014	Kansas City, MO	KPXE-TV	51	30
12/23/2014	9/18/2014	Dayton, OH	WKEF(TV)	51	18
12/16/2014	10/17/2014	Denver, CO	KCEC(TV)	51	26
	12/8/2014	Longview, TX	KCEB	51	26

2/11/2015 1/7/2015 Lansing, MI WLAJ-TV 51 25

AllNet's Spectrum Ownership Analysis Tool has incorporated the Channel 51 interference issue into our Spectrum Grid module. From this module, you can see the 700MHz A-Block owner and an indication of whether Channel 51 is licensed in that particular county. Green highlights over the Channel 51 call sign indicate that a transition plan has been approved, yellow highlights indicate that a transition plan has been filed, and red highlights indicate the markets where interference issues will persist.

700 MHz A Block Owners (Map) and Top 20/50 Analysis Mon, Nov 25, 2013

With the recent industry press indicating that T-Mobile was positioning its self to purchase Verizon's 700 MHz A Block, I decided to dive into the Spectrum Analysis Tool to see what kind of geographic area Verizon's licenses would provide T-Mobile with low band spectrum.

Clearly it would not be a spectrum purchase to provide coverage in rural areas since it doesn't address the rural areas in the western United States with the exception of western Colorado. Looking at it on a Cellular Market (CMA) basis, this spectrum would provide T-Mobile with low band spectrum in all 15 of the Top 20 markets but only 25 of the Top 50 markets. This includes both the Verizon spectrum and T-Mobile's 700MHz spectrum acquired from MetroPCS.

To acquire the remaining 700 MHz A block spectrum in the Top 20 markets, T-Mobile will need to be talking to:

Leap - Chicago
US Cellular - St. Louis
McBride Spectrum - Pittsburg
Cox - San Diego
Vulcan - Seattle