T-Mobile clashes with 2.5 GHz spectrum owners

T-Mobile’s 2.5 GHz spectrum is not as locked down as most people might think it is. It turns out T-Mobile leases, but does not own, much of its 2.5 GHz spectrum. And at least one private investment firm is reaching out to the owners of the spectrum and making offers to buy it. T-Mobile is always bragging about its “layer-cake” spectrum position with a good combination of low-band, mid-band and high-band spectrum. It’s particularly prone to boast about its mid-band 2.5 GHz spectrum, which it inherited from Sprint. This spectrum is giving it a big advantage over AT&T and Verizon because T-Mobile is currently deploying 5G on its 2.5 GHz spectrum while its competitors have had to scramble to acquire comparable mid-band spectrum (C-band), and they’re running behind T-Mobile in deploying 5G. But most of T-Mobile’s 2.5 GHz spectrum is leased from about 1,100 different educational institutions in the US, which own just shy of 2,000 licenses for the spectrum. These organizations got the spectrum decades ago. It's dubbed Educational Broadband Service (EBS) spectrum. Now, at least one investment company — WCO Spectrum — is trying to buy the EBS licenses.