AT&T announced a deal with NextWave Wireless today that could add additional LTE spectrum to the company's repertoire, and put an end to the "tortured" story of the 2.3GHz Wireless Communication Services (WCS) band. For $600 million in cash, AT&T will acquire NextWave, its outstanding debts, and its WCS spectrum licenses — all necessary components for the FCC to approve a joint proposal with Sirius XM allowing AT&T to deploy mobile broadband on WCS spectrum without interfering with satellite radio.
While this spectrum carries a far lower value than the "beachfront property" 700MHz bands, it will allow AT&T to deploy LTE on 2.3GHz spectrum over the course of three years. Though, with a frequency so close to WiMAX's 2.5GHz bands on Sprint in the USA, we wonder if WCS LTE will have similar problems penetrating walls and buildings.