By Nina Trentmann Verizon Communications Inc. is raising $25 billion in new debt to help it settle a bill for spectrum licenses coming due this month. The cellphone carrier in February won more than half of the wireless airwaves offered in a U.S. government auction and pledged $45.5 billion for them, plus roughly $8 billion in additional clearing payments to help existing license users move to other bands. The new spectrum rights could help Verizon expand the reach and bandwidth of its fifth-generation wireless offering. Verizon paid a first installment of $8.2 billion to the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday, and will use the proceeds of the bond sale launched Thursday to pay the roughly $36.4 billion owed to the FCC by March 24, Chief Financial Officer Matthew Ellis said.