Cox Agrees to Sell AWS Licenses to Verizon Wireless, Joining Cable Peers
Cox Communications agreed to follow three cable peers and sell AWS spectrum licenses to Verizon Wireless. Also like the carrier is doing with Bright House Networks, Comcast and Time Warner Cable (CD Dec 5 p5), Verizon Wireless and Cox will promote and market each other’s service. The agreements take off the table another chunk of AWS spectrum and come at a per-MHz/POP price that appears lower than what Verizon Wireless agreed to pay the SpectrumCo members for their AWS licenses. Foes of industry consolidation said the deals are beginning to raise competition concerns.
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Cox will get $315 million for its spectrum, it said Friday. The deal does not include Cox’s 700 MHz spectrum licenses or its Cox Wireless customer accounts or assets, the cable operator said. Cox and Verizon Wireless will sell each other’s products. Additionally, Cox said it plans to “enter into arrangements” with the technology joint-venture those companies formed to work on technologies that integrate wireless and wireline products and services.
Cox appears to be selling its AWS licenses at 55 cents per MHz/POP, Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote investors. “While this is a much smaller deal than the prior cable/VZ announcement … we view it as a positive fill in,” she said. “While this deal will also require FCC approval, we like the fact that VZ continues to add to its spectrum position -- especially given the fact that there is no near term line of sight for more spectrum coming from the government."
Just because the per MHz/POP valuation is lower in this transaction than in the earlier SpectrumCo sale doesn’t necessarily mean Verizon Wireless is paying less for the spectrum, said Greg Widroe, a broker with Media Venture Partners. That deal was valued at 68 cents per MHz/POP, he said. Cox’s licenses are in less dense markets, making it more expensive to build out, he said. “It wouldn’t be fair to say that Verizon paid more for SpectrumCo than it did for Cox,” he said. “You've got to look at it normalized for market size.” Other AWS licensees who have deployed spectrum are probably looking to buy more, Widroe said. “Any of the people who have deployed are always interested in getting more,” he said: “There is some AWS spectrum that is not consolidated,” yet “nothing of the scale that has been done recently."
The deal drew complaints from public interest advocates Media Access Project and Free Press. “From here on out, cable won’t do wireless and Verizon won’t do video,” said MAP Senior Vice President Andrew Schwartzman. “The new cartel means higher prices and less competition. The cease-fire is more important to consumers than the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile transaction because it is more likely to happen.” As a result, consumers will face higher prices and onerous contract agreements, said Matt Wood, Free Press policy director. “Without real competition for cable or mobile phone service, there’s no pressure to lower prices or innovate.”