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Earlier this year, T-Mobile scored a big chunk of the 700MHz A-Block spectrum from Verizon. Now they’ve been working on getting the rest from the other carriers that have a part of that spectrum. As most of them are regional carriers, it’s going to take a bit of time to reach deals with them all. The latest deal comes with CenturyLink. According to the FCC documents the 13 spectrum licenses T-Mobile wants to buy from Actel (a subsidiary of CenturyLink) include markets in parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico and Oklahoma. A T-Mobile spokeswoman confirmed that this deal for this amount of 700MHz would cover 6.5 million POPs. Now that’s 6.5 million people, not 6.5 million T-Mobile customers.
It looks like T-Mobile is buying up 700MHz spectrum everywhere we look. Which is great for T-Mobile. As they really don’t have any of the sub-1GHz spectrum before this. Which explains why their coverage is so bad when you walk into buildings. The lower spectrum can penetrate walls better. Which is why AT&T and Verizon have great building penetration as they have plenty of sub-1GHz spectrum on their network right now. Recent reports pointed at the 700MHz spectrum going live later this year, thats the part they bought from Verizon. With devices supporting that band coming later this year as well. It’s a good thing for T-Mobile especially with their coverage being pretty mediocre in some places.
This is great news for T-Mobile. Even though they are spending quite a bit on spectrum, which is definitely needed. I know plenty of people that want to switch over to T-Mobile but can’t due to the coverage magenta has in their area. But with the addition of the 700MHz spectrum, that should change or at least help. How many of you are on T-Mobile and are excited for the 700Mhz spectrum to start getting used?