XM Satellite Radio is taking over the 2.3 GHz band, paying $196 million for radio spectrum adjacent to their satellite radio service.

The Washington, D.C., satellite radio broadcaster said Wednesday that it will issue 5.5 million shares to buy WCS Wireless, a radio spectrum license holding company. WCS Wireless controls radio frequencies in the 2.3 gigahertz spectrum in 15 of the nation's top 20 cities, says XM.

The company says it will use the adjacent radio waves to deliver new multimedia services. Industry observers note that XM and rival Sirius have plans to offer services such as video, Internet access and location mapping that can be beamed to vehicles.

Bell South has alot of 2.3 GHz and plans to test WiMax on it. But that frequency is right next to satellite radio repeaters. The two (15Mhz) bands are on either side of the satellite radio frequencies.

They may be made less effective for WiMax due to high power satellite radio terrestrial repeaters blasting out 2,000 watts EIRP right next door. XM satellite radio uses terrestrial repeaters in their same assigned "S" band (2320-2345 MHz).

The 2.3 GHz band, also called the Wireless Communications Service (WCS), was created in 1997 by the FCC to provide licensees of spectrum in the 2305-2320 and 2345-2360 MHz bands with broad flexibility.

Bell South owns a chunk of 2.3 GHz and plans to deploy WiMax at 2.3 GHz in Athens, Ga beginning this August. They expect to begin to expand service in several Florida cities later in the year.