AT&T has increased its spectrum holdings in Mexico, adding 80 MHz of spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band during the country’s recent government-led auction.
Telefonica, the only other bidder in the auction, came away with the remaining 40 MHz of the total 120 MHz on the table.
AT&T agreed to pay $76 million for the purchase, which increases the U.S. operator’s spectrum ownership in Mexico by 13 percent, according to Mexican regulator IFT. AT&T scooped up to 20 MHz blocks of FDD and two 20 MHz blocks of TDD spectrum.
AT&T began its push into Mexico in 2015 with the purchase of Nextel Mexico and Iusacell for $1.87 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively.
At the time the carrier said it intended to create a “North American mobile service area,” capable of covering more than 400 million customers in the U.S. and Mexico.
In June, AT&T announced plans to launch a NB-IoT network in the U.S. and Mexico in 2019, deployed in Mexico through software upgrades beginning by the end of the year. Company officials said NB-IoT would complement its existing LTE-M network for IoT operations in both countries.
During the second quarter AT&T reported revenues in Mexico were up 4.8 percent year over year to $697 million. The carrier added 756,000 net customers in the county during the three month period.