DirecTV Sale Could Give AT&T Bigger C-Band Auction War Chest, Says Analyst
AT&T could be in a much better position in the C-band auction if it had proceeds from a DirecTV sale to put toward spectrum purchases, New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin wrote investors Thursday. While AT&T has $8.7 billion for…
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spectrum, a $16 billion DirecTV sale would leave it an additional $9 billion for spectrum after paying down debt, he said. That could give it 29% of the available spectrum, instead of 15%, he said. If it can't sell DirecTV at an adequate price, AT&T might have to look at steps such as selling equity, he said. AT&T didn't comment. Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen told investors last month that a DirecTV-Dish deal is “inevitable” at some point (see 2011060043).