Analyst Note
| Michael Hodel, CFA |The suspense is finally over as the FCC released the winners of the C-Band spectrum auction. As a reminder, we cut our fair value estimates on Verizon and AT&T on Dec. 23 as auction bidding reached nosebleed levels. Fortunately, activity cooled shortly thereafter. Actual results weren’t wildly different than our guesses, but carrier spending was higher than we’d hoped. Verizon spent $45.5 billion versus the $37.5 billion we’d penciled in while AT&T shelled out $23.4 billion versus our $22.5 billion projection with the actual amounts likely to end up $4-8 billion higher after paying to relocate existing spectrum holders. We hadn’t expected T-Mobile to participate extensively, but it still ended up spending $9.3 billion, more than double our estimate.