T-Mobile just spent nearly $8 billion to finally put its network on par with Verizon and AT&T

T-Mobile has made an enormous investment in wireless spectrum in a very expensive bid to put its LTE network on par with Verizon's and AT&T's.

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The carrier is spending almost $8 billion to acquire more than 1,500 wireless licenses that span across the United States. The licenses are for spectrum in the 600MHz range, which in terms of spectrum, is some seriously high-quality stuff. It's at a relatively low frequency, which means it's good at traveling long distances and penetrating walls — attributes that make for a strong network.

This move is all about catching up to Verizon and AT&T. Both of those carriers made big investments in spectrum in the 700MHz range — which has similar properties — years ago, and they've been able to use it to build strong, nationwide LTE networks.

Even as T-Mobile has ascended as a carrier, it's struggled to provide connectivity as reliable as what Verizon and AT&T can offer. With this purchase, T-Mobile has the room to begin changing that in a big way.

But T-Mobile can't just flip a switch tomorrow and improve its network. The spectrum it purchased is currently being used by TV broadcasters, and it could take until early 2020 for all of it to open up.

On top of that, current phones don't support 600MHz wireless. Qualcomm, the biggest provider of cellphone modems, is readying new chips to support it. But it still means that there's going to be a several-year period for these new airwaves to be phased in and for T-Mobile subscribers to gain access to it.

Making this timing all the more pressing for T-Mobile is the fact that 5G is supposed to start rolling out in 2020. That'll start a new wireless battle right as T-Mobile is catching up to the last one.

Still, today's expansion is a big deal for T-Mobile and speaks to the success the company has had over the past several years, growing from a distant fourth place into a third place carrier that can push Verizon and AT&T around, even if it's still about half the size of them.

To read more, please visit: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/13/t-mobile-just-spent-nearly-8-...