Wireless equipment provider and solutions developer NexWave Wireless has announced in a press release that it has retained the services of banking firms UBS and Deutsche Bank to explore possible scenarios for selling its sizeable wireless spectrum holdings in the AWS band (1700/2100Mhz), Wireless Connection Service band (2.3Ghz), and the Broadband Radio Spectrum/Educational Broadband Serices band (2.5Ghz).
The holdings cover over 251 million people in the US with specific markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Denver, Houston, and Detroit.
Two of the above bands and licenses are highly sought after by U.S. carriers due to the increased service area potentially gained and increased coverage. NextWave has been approached by many representatives regarding its holdings since the end of the 700Mhz FCC auction. The company has not committed to any specific spectrum sales to any particular carrier at this time.
Carriers such as T-Mobile, MetroPCS and Leap have committed to rolling out 3G services on the AWS band, while Sprint and Clearwire are rolling out Mobile WiMax on the Broadband Radio Service Band, with Sprint gaining nationwide spectrum holdings gained as a result of the Nextel purchase in exchange for developing a nationwide wireless broadband service as mandated by the FCC to avoid antitrust litigation.
The WCS/EBS bands are used primarily to provide rural school districts and municipalities with high speed data access.
