Less than a year after A- and B-block personal communications services licenses were awarded by the Federal Communications Commission, the PCS industry is entering a new phase of horse trading.
GTE Mobilnet Inc. has agreed to sell its broadband PCS license for the Denver major trading area to Western Wireless Corp., pending FCC approval.
Although terms of the deal were not disclosed, GTE spokesperson Laurie Douglas said her company recovered its investment in the license.
“We purchased the Denver license because we thought it was a very good property. But in a continuing reassessment of strategies, it’s more advantageous for GTE to focus its resources in markets where it already has an (existing wireline and/or wireless) presence,” she said. GTE calls this a “cluster” strategy.
That strategic course correction also includes GTE’s recent acquisition of the license for the Spokane, Wash./Billings, Mont., MTA won at auction by Poka Lambro Telephone Cooperative Inc., also pending FCC approval.
Poka Lambro said it is in the process of selling its remaining A-block license-for the Guam/Northern Mariana Islands MTA-to an undisclosed buyer.
The two A-block licenses “were sold at our cost including the cost of the auctioned license and the expenses involved in acquiring it,” according to a company spokesperson.
The Spokane MTA spreads out along the Canadian border and abuts the Seattle MTA where GTE also holds a PCS license. Douglas said the market likely will be partitioned with GTE retaining operational control only over the service area surrounding Spokane. Other PCS providers would serve the remaining coverage area.
With the acquisition of the Denver MTA, Western Wireless now has three A-block license areas surrounding the Spokane MTA-including the Portland, Ore., and Salt Lake City MTAs.
Until other deals are revealed, these announcements can only fuel speculation.
Jonathan Foxman, director of strategic and business planning at BIA Consulting Inc. believes that telecommunications carriers may try to maximize the utility of their licenses by offering customers more of a “horizontal spread” in services that includes wireline, wireless and long distance. Properties that can’t deliver that mix may be divested.
