Verizon Wireless has purchased 122 spectrum licenses from a number of cable companies as it aims to bolster and expand its 4G LTE network, the company announced today. The licenses come from Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, and were purchased for $3.6 billion in total.
The purchase is actually for shares of the company SpectrumCo, of which the cable giants each own a chunk. Comcast is selling its 63.6 percent share for $2.3 billion; Time Warner, which owns 31.2 percent is getting $1.1 billion from the deal; Bright House Networks is receiving about $189 million for its 5.3 percent share of SpectrumCo.
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In addition to the spectrum deal, Comcast, Time Warner, and Bright House Networks will resell Verizon wireless service, rather than create their own competing wireless network. The cable companies’ ambitions to step into the wireless business was the reason they owned the spectrum in the first place.Â
