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"T-Mobile just bought a chunk of spectrum from Verizon Wireless, which will help the nation's fourth-largest carrier boost its 4G service in several markets, including Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. \nThe move will also help T-Mobile with its plans to roll out an LTE network by the end of 2013.\nThe amount of money T-Mobile is paying wasn't disclosed, but it is a relatively large deal \u2014 T-Mobile is acquiring 218 spectrum licenses throughout the U.S.A. By comparison, when T-Mobile acquired 128 licenses as part of a condition of AT&amp;T abandoning its acquisition of the company, that spectrum was valued at $1 billion.\nBesides cash, T-Mobile is sending a little spectrum Verizon's way, too. T-Mobile says companies are swapping spectrum to create more \"contiguous blocks\" of spectrum on both sides. That's potentially good news for consumers, since it'll presumably make future devices easier to make and possibly even more reliable in their connectivity, at least in some areas.\nSpectrum has been a hot and at-times controversial issue for the nation's wireless carriers. All their services are based on spectrum, and there's only so much to go around. The airwaves are regulated by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), which occasionally auctions off big chunks for use.\n\nSEE ALSO: Why Verizon Phasing Out Unlimited Data Is a Step Backwards\nIt did so in 2006 when it sold a big chunk of what's called the AWS spectrum to a consortium of cable companies (Comcast, Time Warner and others) called SpectrumCo. Late last year, Verizon agreed to buy that spectrum from the consortium for about $3.6 billion, and the agreement to pull back expansion of its FiOS services.\nNow parts of that spectrum are changing hands again. T-Mobile says parts of today's buy include some of the AWS licenses Verizon is buying from SpectrumCo. However, that deal hasn't yet been approved by the FCC, and it would also need to give its stamp of approval on this one.\nThere's no reason to believe that won't happen, and T-Mobile plans to use the spectrum to beef up its 4G offerings, particularly LTE. Verizon and AT&amp;T have operational nationwide LTE networks, and Sprint has plans to officially launch one this summer. That leaves T-Mobile as the only major carrier without a next-generation high-speed network, but it has plans to build one by 2013, and today's spectrum buy will help.\nT-Mobile says the spectrum licenses cover 60 million people in the following areas:\n\nPhiladelphia\nWashington, D.C.\nDetroit\nMinneapolis\nSeattle\nCleveland\nColumbus, Ohio\nMilwaukee\nCharlotte, N.C.\nRaleigh-Durham, N.C.\nGreensboro, N.C.\nMemphis, Tenn.\nRochester, N.Y.\n\nDoes the news make your more confident in the future of T-Mobile? Tell us your thoughts in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/06/25/t-mobile-verizon-spectrum-deal/>