The US-based carrier Verizon could potentially acquire additional spectrum, fiber optic assets, and content in the near future, according to an analyst from the research firm Barclays. This is despite the fact that Verizon is currently using its cash in order to reduce the company’s debt. According to the research firm, the carrier is expected to purchase additional fiber optic assets in the near future, as the carrier needs supplementary network backhaul in order to support the data bandwidth requirements of the carrier’s 5G network. The fiber optic assets will likewise be used to power the “intelligent edge” 5G network that the carrier is currently building, the analyst stated. The fiber optic cables will allow the company to improve its consumer broadband offerings across the country. The analyst further noted that Verizon prefers to own its fiber-optic assets rather than lease them from other network operators.
The carrier is also expected to acquire additional network spectrum, although the research firm noted that Verizon will only purchase more frequencies on a per-market basis. Barclays stated that Verizon will likely be interested in the spectrum currently held by DISH Network. Among the frequencies that the company owns are in the middle-band spectrum and 600MHz band. The latter frequency offers improved building penetration and wider coverage. Jefferies, back in late 2017, remarked that the spectrum owned by the DISH Network can be deployed easily and quickly, and it offers asynchronous downstream capacity. Barclays also stated that Verizon may utilize the 2.5GHz spectrum as a coverage layer for the carrier’s mobile 5G network.
The analyst from Barclays mentioned that the carrier could potentially acquire additional content companies in the future. Within the last few years, the carrier purchased digital content companies like AOL and Yahoo in an effort to diversify its business. These two companies were later combined into Oath in the middle of 2017, and the network operator aims to attract over two billion customers and at least ten million content creators by the year 2020. Barclays stated that Verizon could potentially utilize its sports partnerships in order to earn revenue from ad shares and other sources, despite not spending a considerable amount of money in acquiring the content. The company may also choose to own content later on, the research firm noted.