Capital markets activity by publicly traded telecommunications companies in the U.S., Canada and Bermuda rebounded in December 2021 after a couple of low-scoring months, with the sector raising about $3.01 billion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

The raise, which was solely fueled by senior debt offerings, is a substantial increase from the sector's capital markets activity in November, which brought in $15.3 million and $1.2 million via senior debt offerings and common equity offerings, respectively.

T-Mobile US Inc. was the most active during the month, raising about $3 billion alone via a series of debt offerings, for general corporate purposes. The only other telecom company to raise capital in December was Verizon Communications Inc., which brought in a total of $5 million via a series of debt offerings as well.

The telecom sector's capital raises in 2021 topped in March after the Federal Communications Commission's C-band spectrum auction. Verizon's Cellco Partnership spent $45.45 billion, winning 3,511 licenses in the February government auction last year. AT&T Inc. was the second-biggest spender, paying $23.41 billion for 1,621 licenses.

Telecom companies raised about $43.16 billion via senior debt offerings and $1.03 billion via common equity offerings in March last year.

In total, Verizon raised more than $37 billion in 2021 from various offerings, mainly to help fund its spectrum purchases. The company ended the year taking the top five spots on the list of the sector's highest capital raises.

T-Mobile ranked second for total capital raised for the year, with about $14.2 billion from a number of offerings, including $3.8 billion raised through an offering of its senior notes spread across three tranches.

The sector's largest common stock offering for the year took place in March when Canadian telecom provider TELUS Corp. raised $1.03 billion selling an aggregate of 51.3 million common shares. The company planned to use the net proceeds to strengthen its balance sheet and to accelerate its broadband capital investment program.

Integrated telecommunications services companies raised the most among the broader telecom sector for 2021, bringing in $49.29 billion in aggregate, followed by wireless telecommunication services companies with $16.42 billion. That compared to $106.24 billion raised by integrated telecommunications services companies and $54.74 billion by wireless telecommunication services companies in 2020.