AT&T purchases Qualcomm spectrum

From the Washington Post: AT&T plans to buy the spectrum that Qualcomm had reserved for its Flo TV service for $1.925 billion. The 700 MHz spectrum is the basis for AT&T’s LTE plan. It is AT&T’s second-largest purchase of this section of spectrum after spending $2.5 billion for spectrum owned by Aloha Partners in 2007.

The Qualcomm-owned spectrum covers more than 300 million people nationwide, according to the AT&T news release. This includes more than 70 million people in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and 230 million people across the rest of the country.

Qualcomm expects to shut down FLO TV by March.