AT&T is spending $23 billion to boost your 5G experience. Are you ready to switch?

Announced last year, the big deal that's costing AT&T $23 billion is now finally closed. Ma Bell purchased extra wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar.

Any deal of such importance causes turbulence, and not so long ago, AT&T had to clarify why and how the purchase won't harm competition in the wireless market. But that's history now.

What's important is how that'll affect your 5G experience if you're on AT&T. Spoiler alert: the telco says the whole experience should get better.

Better for you, better for me

The acquired spectrum by AT&T covers "virtually every market across the US", since it adds approximately 30 MHz of nationwide 3.45 GHz mid-band spectrum and approximately 20 MHz of nationwide 600 MHz low-band spectrum to the telco's portfolio.

This newly added spectrum is what makes it possible for AT&T to further enhance its 5G capacity and download speeds (what ultimately is essential for end users like you and me).

Of course, since we're living in the AI age, the deal is also meant to boost the AI-ready connected experience. The extra spectrum has to enhance the superior uplink capabilities of its wireless network.

The catch

There's one catch, though: AT&T won't be able to put all of that newly acquired spectrum to work right away.

The 600 MHz licenses aren't supported by the carrier's current network equipment, meaning AT&T first has to develop and deploy new radios before customers can benefit. That process is expected to take more than a year.

Financial troubles (but not for AT&T)

The just-finalized deal also closes an important chapter in EchoStar's financial problems. In June, its Dish DBS and Dish Wireless units filed for bankruptcy after saying delays in the AT&T deal left them without enough money to make a major debt payment.

Regulators later approved the sale and also freed EchoStar from its promise to build out its own 5G network, deciding that selling the spectrum to AT&T and SpaceX was the best solution.

AT&T helps third-party companies

As part of the FCC's approval, AT&T also funded a $2.4 billion trust to help repay companies still owed money by Dish and EchoStar.

Meanwhile, EchoStar's satellite business, Hughes Network Systems, is reportedly weighing its own bankruptcy filing as it faces another large debt payment, although analysts say the cash from the AT&T deal could still influence how the company moves forward.

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