T-Mobile is buying neither Verizon’s story, nor its spectrum

Verizon hasn’t exactly done a bang-up job selling its critics on the merits of its 4G spectrum consolidation plans.

Verizon is offering to part with a bunch of 700 MHz licenses if it gets permission to buy up the cable operators’ friendlier frequencies in the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) airwaves. But one of the operators who stood to benefit the most from that sale, T-Mobile, isn’t interested and is urging the FCC to kill the Verizon-cable deal. So why isn’t T-Mobile tantalized by Verizon’s offer?

Two reasons: 1) The spectrum Big Red is selling just doesn’t fit with T-Mobile’s LTE plans, no matter how meager they might be, and 2) T-Mobile probably feels it has a shot at getting those same cable AWS licenses if it convince the FCC to put the kibosh on Verizon’s sweetheart deal.