On Monday, T-Mobile announced a spectrum swap with Leap Wireless that should equate to better spectrum coverage around certain markets.
As part of the deal, both sides have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission for a spectrum swap, which must be approved for the deal to go through.
Basically, the agreement will see T-Mobile hand over spectrum to Leap in Phoenix, as well as Houston, Galveston, and Bryan-College Station, Texas. Additionally, the companies will exchange spectrum in Philadelphia; Wilmington, Del.; and Atlantic City, New Jersey, as well as several markets in Texas and New Mexico, T-Mobile said.
"These transactions will enhance our spectrum depth in these markets and provide us longer term flexibility to offer a larger LTE channel," said Doug Hutcheson, Leap's president and chief executive officer, in a statement. "As we have previously announced, we plan to cover approximately two-thirds of our current network footprint with LTE technology over the next two to three years. In addition the transactions will allow us to re-align spectrum in key markets into contiguous channels thereby optimizing our delivery of wireless services."
However, according to a T-Mobile spokeswoman, the spectrum T-Mobile will give up will be offset by spectrum the company will acquire from the breakup fee paid by AT&T last year. Leap, for its part, will give T-Mobile spectrum in markets in Alabama, Illinois, Missouri, and Minnesota. The net result should be additional spectrum for T-Mobile.
That's good news for T-Mobile, which has been saddled with perceptions that the company's network coverage, though cheaper, isn't as comprehensive as that of AT&T and Verizon. (For real-world information about how a given carrier performs in your area, either download the RootMetrics Cell Phone Coverage Map App for iOS and Android or check out PCMag's Fastest Mobile Networks coverage.)
T-Mobile plans to add LTE coverage in 2013, but has also used its HSPA 42+ network as a high-speed alternative. That's meant that T-Mobile is the only major carrier to not offer the Apple iPhone, however.
"We do not anticipate our customers in Houston or Phoenix will experience significant impacts," a T-Mobile spokeswoman said. "These markets are expected to receive spectrum as part of the AT&T break-up, which we will start to deploy this year once regulatory approvals for that transaction have been received."
Specifically, T-Mobile will acquire 10 MHz of AWS spectrum in St. Louis, as well as St. Cloud, Le Sueur and Rochester, Minn.; andPeoria, Decatur and Champaign, Ill. It will acquire 20-MHz of spectrum in Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville, Ala, the spokeswoman said. Leap will receive 10 MHz of AWS spectrum in Houston and Galveston, Tex.; as well as Phoenix.
Although T-Mobile and Leap Wireless are the prime beneficiaries, the agreements were signed between T-Mobile and several Leap entities: Cook Inlet/VS GSM VII PCS LLC, a joint venture between T-Mobile and Cook Inlet in which T-Mobile has a non-controlling majority interest (Cook Inlet); and Savary Island, Leap's non-controlled, majority-owned venture.
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