Yesterday, the FCC officially granted the 600 MHz spectrum licenses that T-Mobile successfully secured in the recent broadcast incentive auction. The Un-carrier now officially possesses a staggering average of 31 MHz of 600 MHz spectrum licenses across the nation, more than quadrupling its low-band holdings (click for spectrum auction reactions from Verizon and AT&T).

With the spectrum transfer complete, the real fun begins. Despite the cries from skeptics, T-Mobile has already kicked off deployment activities and will see the first sites ready for testing this summer ! This timeline - well ahead of expectations – sets the stage for commercial operations later this year. That’s when new 600 MHz smartphones from Samsung and other manufacturers are anticipated to arrive. T-Mobile has been working closely with the FCC and broadcasters and expects more than 1 million square miles of 600 MHz spectrum the Un-carrier owns to be clear and ready for deployment by year end.

T-Mobile's unprecedented low-band spectrum purchase in the broadcast incentive auction gives the Un-carrier a massive volume of premium airwaves to meet customers' growing demand for mobile data, while Verizon's network strains under the load of unlimited data. And, the Un-carrier also earlier this year announced plans to use this new spectrum to BOTH strengthen its LTE network AND build out the nation's first nationwide 5G network, expanding 5G beyond the urban core to support applications that require mobility and connectivity across the country.