T-Mobile picks up NextWave spectrum

In April, NextWave announced it would unload its U.S. spectrum holdings, which it acquired after emerging from bankruptcy. NextWave initially intended to use the spectrum as seed licenses for its 4G infrastructure line, offering them up to carriers that agreed to deploy its gear. But NextWave officials said in the last year its equipment portfolio has begun to stand on its own, so the company no longer saw the need to hold onto the spectrum.

Though NextWave has downplayed the notion of using its spectrum as an investment, it made off with a tidy profit in the four-carrier deal. The spectrum it is selling cost NextWave $75.2 million in the 2006 AWS auction, allowing NextWave to double its investment in two years. NextWave earned far bigger windfalls while in its highly controversial bankruptcy. It sold off PCS licenses it acquired in the previous decade for billions of dollars.

Though the proceeds from the AWS sale are far more modest, NextWave still has a lot more spectrum to sell. NextWave said the current deals only account for 63% of its holdings. In addition to AWS licenses, it owns 2.5 GHz WiMAX licenses and 2.3 GHz wireless communications service (WCS) licenses.