Verizon Emerges As Top Bidder In $81B 5G Spectrum Auction

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ has emerged as the top bidder in an $81 billion auction that provides the license to use mid-band spectrum for 5G services.

What Happened: The Federal Communications Commission(FCC) said that the auction net winning bids resulted in $81.11 billion, with 21 bidders winning all of the available 5,684 licenses.

Verizon’s Cellco Partnership subsidiary emerged as the top bidder in the auction for the coveted C-band spectrum with a winning bid of over $45 billion, followed by AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) through AT&T Spectrum Frontiers LLC with a bid of $23.41 billion. 

T-Mobile Us Inc (NASDAQ: TMUS)'s T-Mobile License LLC had the third winning bid of $9.34 billion.

Verizon’s Cellco Partnership won 3,511 licenses in the auction, while AT&T Spectrum Frontiers LLC won a total of 1,621 licenses. 

United States Cellular Corp. won 254 licenses to take the third position.

Why It Matters: Winning licenses for the airwaves is crucial for the carriers to develop their 5G networks. 

In December, Verizon announced it had extended 5G nationwide to cover a total of 230 million people in over 2,700 cities.

Price Movement: Verizon shares closed 0.2% higher at $57.12 on Wednesday and added almost 0.3% in the after-hours session.

Image: Frederik Lipfert via Unsplash