The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has concluded another spectrum auction, and T-Mobile was the hands-down winner.
The FCC was auctioning 2.5 Ghz spectrum, in the same range T-Mobile uses for its mid-band 5G. T-Mobile spent $304,325,290 for 7,156 licenses, spending orders of magnitude more than the other top four buyers combined. Buyers two through five spent a combined total of $58,860,700. The top buyers by license volume only bought a combined total of 249 licenses.
T-Mobile acquired its previous wealth of 2.5 GHz spectrum through its merger with Sprint. Sprint had a treasure trove of spectrum but lacked the ability to use it. T-Mobile immediately began deploying the spectrum to power its mid-band network, bridging the gap between its slower nationwide 5G and its high-speed, short-range mmWave 5G.
While Verizon and AT&T bet on the 3.7 to 3.98 GHz C-Band spectrum for their 5G network, their rollout has been plagued with problems because of the potential for that spectrum to interfere with aircraft altimeters. T-Mobile’s mid-band is the only one not impacted because it relies on 2.5 GHz spectrum, which is far enough away from the spectrum altimeters use to not be an issue.
Given the success T-Mobile has already enjoyed with its mid-band 5G, it’s not surprising it doubled down and bought so many more licenses.