T-Mobile will receive Leap spectrum in Alabama, Illinois, Missouri and Minnesota, while Leap will receive spectrum in Phoenix, Houston, Galveston and Bryan-College Station. The companies will also exchange spectrum in Philadelphia, Wilmington and Atlantic City, as well as other markets in Texas and New Mexico.
"These transactions will enhance our spectrum depth in these markets and provide us longer term flexibility to offer a larger LTE channel,” said Doug Hutcheson, president and CEO at Leap Wireless.
The exchange is the second for Leap in recent months. The operator exchanged spectrum with Verizon in December 2011, buying a 12MHz block of spectrum for $204 million and selling $188 million of spectrum back to Verizon.
T-Mobile and Leap’s spectrum exchange comes as a result of a jointly filed application with the FCC on April 4 and is subject to regulatory approval.
