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By Sinead Carew
NEW YORK, Jan 25 (Reuters) - AT&T Inc has inked twodeals worth more than $2.68 billion this week as it acceleratesits push to expand its wireless spectrum holdings to beef upcapacity for high-speed services.
The No 2. U.S. mobile provider said on Friday that it agreedto buy wireless airwaves from Verizon Wireless for $1.9 billionin cash, plus spectrum licenses that it will contribute toVerizon Wireless in five markets.
The Verizon Wireless deal was announced just days after AT&Tsaid it will pay $780 million in cash to buy AtlanticTele-Network Inc's Alltel wireless business, whichincludes spectrum and 585,000 customers.
These deals follow 2012, a year in which the company forgeda total of 50 spectrum deals that increased its nationalspectrum holdings by a third, AT&T Chief Executive RandallStephenson said during the company's quarterly conference callon Thursday.
The operator, which needs to catch up with Verizon Wirelessin a high-speed wireless network upgrade, has been seekingsmaller spectrum deals since the failure in late 2011 of its $39billion bid to buy T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, due to regulatory opposition.
AT&T, Verizon Wireless and their smaller rivals are alllooking to bolster their capacity so they can profit fromincreasing consumer demand for mobile internet services forsmartphones, tablet computers and other devices.
Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said that the dealwas positive for both companies and gives AT&T spectrum inimportant markets such as Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami.
"While on the surface this appears to be a rich price, wewould note that the B block licenses that AT&T is acquiring areconcentrated in major metropolitan markets," Fritzsche said.
The deals announced this week follow AT&T's August agreementto buy wireless company NextWave Wireless Inc for its spectrumholdings for $50 million and $550 million of debt.
AT&T said the Verizon Wireless licenses it is buying, forairwaves in the 700 megahertz spectrum range, cover a populationof 42 million in 18 U.S. states.
It said it expects to close the deal, which is subject toregulatory approval, in the second half of 2013.
Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc, committed to sell a chunk ofspectrum last year while it was seeking approval for itsagreement to buy spectrum from cable operators.
