The battle for spectrum leads to M&A in the USA

摘要

With 4G - essentially LTE - widely available and LTE-Advanced on the horizon, the need to deal with perceived spectrum shortages in the USA is dominating the thoughts of mobile operators. Because carriers of up to 20 MHz are best suited for high-speed data transfers, considerable numbers of spectrum purchases and swaps are taking place in order to make existing provision more efficient. But with the FCC unable to provide worthwhile amounts of new spectrum in the most suitable bands for LTE, M&A activity is understandably back on the agenda with a vengeance and is notable for the role played by satellite spectrum holders which is the primary focus of this Rearview.