AT&T and Sprint have filed a request with the FCC for a swap of spectrum licenses. This is about the driest news you’ll be reading this week, so let’s get to the meat and potatoes and get out of here so we can go and enjoy Thanksgiving:
The Applicants state that the additional spectrum (including the spectrum encompassed by the de facto transfer spectrum leasing arrangement) will enable AT&T to increase its system capacity to enhance existing services, better accommodate its overall growth, and facilitate the provision of additional products and services to the public in the Dallas-Ft. Worth, Denver, New Orleans-Baton Rouge, Des Moines-Quad Cities, Honolulu, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Omaha, Louisville-Lexington-Evansville, Salt Lake City, and Spokane-Billings MTAs. The Applicants also state that the transaction will enhance Sprint Nextel’s ability to expand its array of commercial mobile wireless services in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, New Orleans, South Bend-Mishawaka, Charlotte-Greensboro-Greenville, and Cleveland MTAs.
If you managed to read that without passing out, I salute you. The main point is this: AT&T and Sprint both have something each other way, but they can’t legally just trade it like you can a broken stereo that’s still under warranty. They’ve got to go about this the legal way and if they’re given permission, which they most likely will, then coverage will go up, maybe speeds too, and you’ll have less to complain about when you’re trying to desperately find signal while walking down the street.
Contrast this to Kenya, who is small enough that the government is mulling building their own LTE network and then selling service directly to operators who then resell it to consumers. Sounds socialist, yes, but at least there’s no longer a question of who gets the most spectrum and more importantly whether or not the winner of said spectrum actually uses it properly and builds a kick-ass network.
[Via: Phone Scoop]