Consolidation, Expansion in Wireless -- Absolutely Nothing To Do With the Bakken

The wireless story is almost as exciting for me as the Bakken story. Today, very exciting news in wireless was reported:

AT&T Inc. has gone on a shopping spree for wireless spectrum, striking three separate deals that should let it increase its capacity for wireless broadband.

• will buy NextWave Wireless, Inc, a Dallas-based start-up
• will buy spectrum from Comcast Corp
• will buy spectrum from Horizon Wi-Com, a Miami-based start-up

Comcast has given up on its own plans to start a wireless network, and is selling most of its spectrum to Verizon Wireless.

This is exciting for a number of reasons, but perhaps most importantly:

The three deals all involved spectrum in one particular band. Put together, they would provide near-nationwide coverage and a substantial boost to AT&T's capacity. AT&T said it will begin to deploy the spectrum in three years.

Total cost for these three deals is estimated at less than $1 billion. ATT's market cap is $220 billion and its operating cash flow is over $35 billion. This is an extremely small price to pay to provide ATT near-nationwide coverage. You all probably recall a competitor's very effective ad campaign some time questioning / challenging ATT's nationwide coverage, or lack thereof.