T-Mobile garners 120 licenses for $4.2b, many in key markets, in just-closed auction: Cingular and Verizon Wireless also spent heaps to buy more coverage. T-Mobile is a big winner, though, given its lack of spectrum portfolio. These wins gives them more space in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. A consortium of four cable operators spent $42.b for 137 licenses covering a chunk of the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Atlanta, and a number of other cities. Part of the joy in owning licenses is trading them with other firms and using them as chips to leverage roaming deals and other partnerships. Cingular and T-Mobile initially built out the GSM infrastructure in the US; neither could afford to do it on its own. I'll be curious whether Cingular and T-Mobile now collaborate on HSDPA buildouts, with Cingular falling behind Verizon and Sprint's footprint.
