Verizon May Be Lining Up To Buy Spectrum From Dish, Sprint, BTIG Says

Verizon seems like a likely buyer of Sprint spectrum if that carrier puts some of its extensive holdings for sale on the secondary market, BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk said Tuesday in a blog post. Piecyk said Verizon needs spectrum and may be able to buy it from Dish Network and Sprint, while still participating in the TV incentive auction. “Sprint could sell at least 60 MHz of spectrum to all three existing wireless operators and not violate the existing spectrum screen,” he wrote. “It’s not clear how much spectrum Sprint would be willing to sell but we believe that existing wireless operators would likely be interested in a minimum of a 20 MHz and unlikely more than 40 MHz.” Piecyk said AWS-3 spectrum isn't included in the screen until the spectrum is within three years of being cleared. Verizon has more than 40 percent of U.S. postpaid customers with roughly 18 percent of available spectrum “and the data usage of its existing customers continues to rise,” Piecyk wrote. “Sprint has more spectrum than any operator resulting from its effective foreclosure on the 2.5 GHz spectrum band, which is quickly becoming the go to capacity source for operators around the world.”