Capital markets activity by publicly traded telecommunications companies in the U.S., Canada and Bermuda once again fell to a near halt in October, with the sector raising only about $625,000 in total.

That compared to about $4.59 billon raised in September. Still, the October figure topped a low point in July, when the sector raised just $100,000.

PhoneBrasil International Inc. was the sole telecommunications company driving October's activity with two separate debt offerings of secured convertible promissory notes that raised $150,000 and $475,000, respectively, in gross proceeds.

Capital markets activity for the telecom sector overall peaked in March after the Federal Communications Commission's C-band spectrum auction. Verizon Communications Inc.'s Cellco Partnership spent $45.45 billion, winning 3,511 licenses in the February government auction. AT&T Inc. was the second-biggest spender, paying $23.41 billion for 1,621 licenses.

Telecom companies raised about $44.56 billion via senior debt offerings and $1.03 billion through common equity offerings in March.

In total, Verizon raised more than $32.32 billion year-to-date from various offerings, mainly to help fund its spectrum purchases.

T-Mobile US Inc. ranked second for total capital raised for the year, with about $10.7 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, American Tower Corp.'s $2.42 billion raise from the sale of 9.9 million common shares in May, was driven in part to finance American Tower's acquisition of Telxius Telecom SA from Telefónica SA.

Integrated telecommunications services companies raised the most among the broader telecom sector for the year to date, bringing in $53.85 billion in aggregate, followed by wireless telecommunication services companies, with $13.42 billion.