T-Mobile has reportedly sought to acquire a collection of smaller rivals and the lower frequencies the companies offer, giving the nation's fourth-largest wireless carrier better penetration in urban areas in case regulators deny a proposed buyout by Sprint.
Sprint, since late 2013, vetted its bid to purchase T-mobile by consulting with several financial institutions. The move would merge the nation's third- and fourth-largest providers of cellular service and would serve as a larger threat to the two top players in the field, Verizon and AT&T.
T-Mobile's move to acquire 700-Mhz A-Band spectrum from smaller providers of wireless service could serve as a contingency plan in case Sprint's buyout hopes burn, according to a New York Post source. T-Mobile has only recently acquired low-bandwidth spectrum, frequencies that are vital in urban environments as their larger waves penetrate solid matter much better than high-frequency transmissions.
If the Sprint takeover is approved, T-Mobile would likely have to dump the spectrum it was reportedly seeking to purchase.
Purchasing more low-band spectrum wouldn't serve T-Mobile well if Sprint's buyout bid is successful. Sprint already has already been attempting to shore up its partnerships with companies operating on the band, but wasn't expected to start releasing devices that operate on the frequency until next year.
T-Mobile's alleged move to purchase low-band spectrum from smaller carriers was supported by the company's acquisition of the same bands from Verizon for $3.3 billion -- T-Mobile had no 700-Mhz coverage before the agreement with Verizon.
After SoftBank's purchase of Sprint in 2013, the corporation has been trying to do what AT&T wasn't allowed to do by regulators. AT&T wasn't allowed to purchase T-Mobile because regulators stated the move would consolidate the market. Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT&T, stated in a speech at the Economic Club in Washington, D.C., earlier this June that the same philosphy should apply to Sprint's bid.
"The problem as I see it is the way the government shut our deal down," stated Stephenson. "They wrote a complaint, and a very specific complaint. You're consolidating the industry from four to three national competitors. If you think of Sprint and T-Mobile combining, I struggle to understand how that's not four going to three."
A decision on Sprint's proposed buyout of T-Mobile is expected to made sometime this summer.
