T-Mobile is shelling out some of its un-carrier cash to purchase $2.365 billion worth of spectrum from Verizon Wireless.
T-Mobile will buy 700 MHz A-Block spectrum from Verizon Wireless, and hand over AWS and PCS licenses to Verizon valued at approximately $950 million, T-Mobile chief John Legere said today.
The companies will also realign spectrum blocks in certain markets, primarily in northern California and the Atlanta area.
Combined with T-Mobile's existing A-Block holdings in Boston, the new spectrum will provide low-band spectrum covering 158 million people or 50 percent to the U.S. population, including those in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Detroit, Legere said.
Ultimately, low-band coverage will provide better in-building coverage in urban areas and greater breadth of network in suburban and rural areas, he said, and should help churn, or loss of customers.
"These transactions represent our biggest move yet in a series of initiatives that are rapidly expanding our already lightning fast network and improving its performance across the country," Legere said. "We will continue to find ways to advance our customers' network experience just as our bold Un-carrier moves have shaken up the wireless industry to benefit consumers."
T-Mobile's 4G LTE now covers approximately 209 million people in 273 metro areas.
The deal must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.
In June 2012, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless announced a deal whereby both providers would purchase and swap spectrum in the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) band. The deal hinged on whether regulator's approved Verizon's $3.6 billion acquisition of spectrum owned by cable firms like Comcast, which they eventually did.
The FCC is also prepping to auction off unused spectrum currently held by broadcasts, but that will probably not happen until 2015.