AT&T has filed a petition with the FCC seeking clearance to purchase B and C block 700Mhz spectrum from regional telecom Whidbey Telephone Company, which serves the Seattle, Washington area. The spectrum covers 30 counties and ranges between 18 and 55MHz of spectrum.
AT&T plans to use the spectrum to shore up its current GSM/UMTS network and makes no mention of its LTE network, despite being compatible. AT&T is rolling out LTE on the 700MHz band along with Verizon while planning to use previously acquired spectrum from Qualcomm and other sources to deploy LTE starting this year.
