Verizon Communications (VZ) looks to be goosing its bid to acquire spectrum assets from a handful of cable companies by hinting the deal could lead to the expansion of video services to its wireless platform.
According to a The Wall Street Journal article from over the weekend, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said the company would look at launching by the end of this year an integrated video service that would allow its pay television service to also view videos on their mobile devices.
Verizon announced a pair of deals late last year to acquire spectrum assets from the likes of cable giants Comcast, Time Warner, Bright House and Cox. The plans were announced just weeks before the Federal Communications Commission killed AT&T’s plans to acquire T-Mobile USA. The deal was originally thought to be a safe play by Verizon as unlike AT&T’s plans, the spectrum deal would not remove a current player from the mobile space.
However, objections were raised as some opposed the move that would remove valuable spectrum assets in the 1.7/2.1 GHz spectrum band from the market and put them in the hands of the industry’s largest wireless player. Verizon Wireless currently has a stockpile of 1.7/2.1 GHz spectrum that it has said it would use to bolster its LTE network that currently is running on its 700 MHz spectrum holdings.
Both Verizon and AT&T have said that they need additional spectrum holdings in order to power video-intensive mobile services that customers are clamoring for.
Bored? Why not follow me on Twitter?
