T-Mobile Cleans-Up At 600MHz Wireless Spectrum FCC Auction In $8B Bid That Blankets The US

T-Mobile boss John Legere has turned the hype dial to 11 after the wireless carrier won 45 percent of the low-band 600MHz spectrum the FCC put up for auction. Legere called it "possibly the biggest news ever" for T-Mobile, which invested $7.99 billion acquiring the spectrum, its largest investment to date. No other wireless carrier walked away with a larger chunk of 600MHz spectrum than T-Mobile.

"These auction results are a win for everyone, especially consumers, and generated BILLIONS for broadcasters and U.S. taxpayers. Congratulations to the FCC!," said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile. "This spectrum sets us up to bring the Un-carrier—and REAL competition—to wireless customers everywhere, many of whom have never had real choices in wireless. If the Duopoly thought things were rough before—well, just wait!"


In a video blog discussing the purchase and its implications, Legere said the 600MHz spectrum "is the equivalent to beachfront spectrum," meaning this is high value stuff. In this case, 600MHz spectrum works better in buildings and can travel further from towers. With the purchase of this "once-in-a-lifetime" spectrum, T-Mobile has the largest swath of low-band spectrum in the U.S., blanketing the entire nation with the ability to cover every single American.

The other bragging point for T-Mobile is that the competition's existing low-band spectrum is already crowded and congested, whereas T-Mobile's is clear and wide open for customers. What that ultimately means is a better, faster wireless experience.


"With this purchase, T-Mobile now has significantly more low-band spectrum per customer than any other major provider and nearly TRIPLE the low-band spectrum per customer than Verizon," T-Mobile states.

Not wasting any time, T-Mobile plans to put some of its newly licensed spectrum to use for its own and MetroPCS customers later this year. The wireless carrier notes that Ericsson and Nokia have announced availability of 600MHz equipment that T-Mobile will use in its network. In addition, Qualcomm is planning to introduce mobile chipsets supporting 600MHz, with compatible smartphones expected as soon as this year.