WinStar Communications Inc, the local wireless telecom company that looks set to benefit from a Federal Communications Commission decision to put no limit on the accumulation of the 38 gigahertz spectrum, says it has signed agreements to acquire 10 additional 38GHz licenses, including channels located in five of the 25 largest markets in the US. The lack of limitation on the spectrum Winstar uses to provide its services to business customers, has led to speculation that it is now a prime takeover candidate for long distance carriers looking to get into local markets. The acquisitions, subject to FCC approval, will increase WinStar’s bandwidth to 800MHz in Miami, 700MHz in Chicago and Denver, and 600MHz in Atlanta and Houston. The company says Fort Worth and Miami are now the two cities where it has already exceeded the previous 700MHz limit in any given market. WinStar is currently the largest holder of 38GHz spectrum in the US, with bandwidth coverage in all the top 50 markets. The new licenses cover in excess of 27 million new channel pops (population coverage multiplied by number of channels), increasing WinStar’s total license coverage to more than 800 million channel pops. In total, WinStar’s licenses cover 185 million people.
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