AT&T announced today that it’s acquiring Straight Path Communications for $1.6 billion as part of the company’s efforts to continue building out its 5G spectrum holdings.

As noted in AT&T’s press release, Straight Path — which is a company that basically existed for the sake of owning spectrum — comes with 735 mmWave licenses in the 39 GHz band and 133 licenses in the 28 GHz band, both of which fall right into the high-frequency bandwidth area that 5G technology will be focusing on. According to AT&T, its newly acquired Straight Path spectrum covers the entire United States, which could be beneficial for future 5G rollouts.

Straight Path isn’t AT&T’s first 5G pick up — the company bought FiberTower back in February for more a…

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