AT&T expresses interest in FirstNet opportunity, plans to ‘pursue it aggressively’

But T-Mobile's spectrum strategy clearly is more focused on the incentive auction, based on the statements made by company officials yesterday. The carrier expects to have at least $6 billion that it can bid for the 600 MHz spectrum that will be cleared by TV broadcasters, and that figure could go as high as $10 billion.

“Participating in the upcoming spectrum auction is really going to be a real game-changer for us,” said Braxton Carter, T-Mobile’s executive vice president and CFO. “The low-band spectrum will bring additional [subscriber] retention benefits to us and allow us to continue to expand the network from a geographic standpoint, as well as increase quality in these major urban areas with in-building coverage. ”

T-Mobile historically has had much less spectrum below 1 GHz than Verizon and AT&T. The carrier plans to close that gap by winning spectrum licenses in the incentive auction. T-Mobile officials are particularly enthused that their company will not have to outbid Verizon and AT&T for certain reserve licenses.

“I’m just super excited about this auction,” Ray said. “It’s the first auction in U.S. history where Verizon and AT&T can’t go in and display their foreclosure capabilities that they’ve done on pretty much every damn auction that’s occurred over the last 20 years, so that’s huge. There’s a reserve, and that’s going to allow us to compete more effectively and secure the low-band spectrum that we need.

“It’s a massive, change-the-industry story. Verizon and AT&T have lived in a duopolist world with huge low-band spectrum assets, to the detriment of much competition in the U.S.”