Anterix said Tuesday it agreed to sell a 10 MHz 900 MHz spectrum license to Public Utility District No. 1 of Benton County, Washington, in a deal the company described as the first private wireless broadband deployment among publicly owned utilities in the Pacific Northwest.
Benton PUD will use the network across its 927-square-mile service territory in Benton County, where it serves more than 58,000 customers in Kennewick, Richland, Prosser, Benton City and Finley. The utility-owned network is intended to support grid automation, field workforce connectivity, outage detection and restoration, and compliance-related resilience efforts.
The agreement adds Benton PUD to a growing list of utilities adopting private wireless. Anterix said public utility districts are now joining investor-owned utilities in deploying these networks, marking a broader shift in the sector.
Anterix President and CEO Scott Lang said the Benton PUD deal reflects accelerating adoption across utilities. Benton PUD General Manager Rick Dunn said the network is intended to strengthen operations, improve safety and service, and build a more resilient system.
The company also highlighted three offerings tied to its private wireless platform: TowerX, which it says helps reduce tower access and site optimization time and cost; Catalyx, a connectivity management solution for device provisioning and lifecycle management; and its Anterix Active Ecosystem, which includes more than 150 technology and infrastructure partners. As a result of these announcements, the company's shares have moved -4.41% on the market, and are now trading at a price of $38.78. Check out the company's full 8-K submission here.
