Rival carriers AT&T and T-Mobile in a new deal have agreed to swap PCS and AWS-1 spectrum licenses throughout the United States, according to a couple of new FCC filings. These licenses will be swapped in identical amounts, so the total spectrum both carriers are holding will remain unchanged.
AT&T and T-Mobile said the license swaps “are intended to enable more efficient operations by creating larger blocks of contiguous spectrum and aligning spectrum blocks across markets.” It’s worth nothing that the deal hasn’t gone through yet, as it’s pending FCC approval. However, at this point, there’s no reason as to why the FCC would block the deal.
Both carriers will be swapping spectrum from many markets, but some of the major ones include Boston; Minneapolis; Phoenix; Sacramento, Calif.; and Austin and San Antonio, Texas. This deal won’t benefit customers immediately, but will guarantee some long-term happiness, as it will allow both carriers to build 15×15 and 20×20 Wideband LTE in some areas. These wider channels will allow for higher capacity traffic and increased speeds, meaning customers will see overall better stability from both carriers in the future.
These deal benefits T-Mobile in particular, as the company has a goal of reaching over 250 markets with Wideband LTE by the end of the year, which we are rapidly approaching. This license swap will help T-Mobile be well on its way to reaching that goal.
Again, it’s still pending FCC approval, so nothing has actually happened yet.
source: FCC (1), FCC (2)
via: TmoNews
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