Sprint Won’t Bid in H-Block Auction
Sprint will sit out the PCS H-block auction scheduled to start Jan. 22, Chief Financial Officer Joe Euteneuer said Wednesday at a Wells Fargo investor conference. Dish Network is still widely viewed as a likely big player in the auction, the first auction which will provide a down payment on FirstNet.
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"Sprint is focused on gaining access to more low-band spectrum to add to the company’s spectrum portfolio, so we have opted not to participate in the upcoming H-block auction,” Euteneuer said. “With the launch of Sprint Spark, Sprint is working to deploy its 2.5 GHz licenses along with licenses in 800 MHz and 1.9 MHz to provide customers greater network speeds and capacity. We expect to offer Sprint Spark in approximately 100 of the largest U.S. cities by the end of 2016.”
T-Mobile also appeared to take itself out of the running for H-block Monday, to focus instead on buying spectrum on the secondary market and in the TV incentive and AWS-3 auctions, said Stifel Nicolaus in a research note Wednesday. That leaves Dish as the remaining key player, Stifel said. “It’s still possible” AT&T or Verizon Wireless “and/or some others could bid on all or part of the H Block, but Sprint seemed like the most probable major competitor to DISH, given that the H Block sits between Sprint’s G block (1910-1915, 1990-1995 MHz) and DISH’s lower AWS-4 band at 2000-2020 MHz, which caused past regulatory battles,” the note said. A T-Mobile executive confirmed Wednesday the carrier will not participate in the January auction.
Euteneuer’s comments show Sprint is putting increasing reliance on its extensive 2.5 GHz holdings, BTIG analyst Walter Pieyck wrote in a research note. “While not a complete shock, this is somewhat surprising given that Sprint is building a thin version of LTE on the adjacent G-Block of spectrum,” Pieyck said. “The 5×5 MHz G-Block is delivering inferior speeds to Sprint customers than what AT&T and Verizon offer on their fatter 10×10 MHz LTE networks and what T-Mobile is in the process of rolling out. This further signals Sprint’s plans to develop Clearwire’s 2.5 GHz spectrum as their method to differentiate in the future."
"The FCC has moved quickly to implement Congress’ direction to auction the PCS H block,” a commission spokesman said via email. “The Commission is looking forward to a successful auction, which will spur additional mobile broadband network development for American consumers and businesses, and provide a down payment on the Nationwide Interoperable Public Safety Network.”