AT&T has deployed wireless spectrum from EchoStar to 23,000 cell sites nationwide, including 250 in Colorado, allowing it to boost speeds for its mobile customers by up to 80% in under three months, according to an announcement from the company on Monday.
The upgrade follows a $23 billion deal the company struck with EchoStar, which is based in Douglas County, on Aug. 26 to purchase 30 MHz of 3.45 GHz mid-band, used for 5G, and 600 MHz low-band, which is used for broader coverage.
The telecom giant won’t actually own the spectrum until the middle of next year when the all-cash purchase closes. But it struck an interim lease deal and moved quickly to allow its towers to carry the bandwidth.
“We’ve put EchoStar spectrum to work on our network and customers are already feeling the difference,” said Jeff McElfresh, chief operating officer, AT&T, in a statement. “This gives us the runway to expand availability of AT&T Internet Air for consumers and businesses and add even more download speed to our 5G service.”
AT&T Internet Air is the company’s wireless broadband offering and customers there can expect to see speed increases of up to 55%, according to the company.
EchoStar had been assembling a 5G wireless network from scratch, but the cutting-edge buildout was taking longer and costing more than expected, burdening the company with a heavy load of debt. Adding to the company’s stress, the Federal Communications Commission began pushing hard on EchoStar to use or sell the valuable wireless spectrum it has been sitting on for years.
Boost Mobile has given up on its plans to be the nation’s fourth independent wireless network and instead will rely primarily on AT&T to carry its traffic. In that regard, customers of Boost Mobile will also benefit from the faster speeds AT&T has achieved in a matter of weeks, rather than the months or even years EchoStar might have required to build out its own system.
AT&T didn’t provide an average speed upgrade on its network. But the company said it has achieved up to 80% increases for mobile customers in Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Castle Rock, Littleton, Lakewood and other parts of the state.
The faster speeds should make it easier for its customers to stream video, play games and run AI applications on their devices, the company said. And it should make its internet service a stronger option in areas where the company is unable to bring in fiber-based internet service.
In May, AT&T offered $5.75 billion to Lumen Technologies, a successor of Qwest Communications, for its Quantum Fiber network, which has been expanding its fiber optic capacity to homes across metro Denver.
