To me, all the bantering about 600MHz, Sprint's participation, T-M market dominance with it, etc... is becoming out of hand. Let us break down some facts:
1. Sprint is focusing on what they have now. If they were to use their current capital/capex and apply it towards 600MHz spectrum purchase and take away from building out their current holdings, they get nowhere with customer experience and expectations. We would still have subscribers saying the service is poor. So, pick your poison... If Sprint's investment in HPUE does what Gunther, Saw and others say it will, some (not all) of the challenges they face will be eliminated.
2. If what I have read in some of the replies this morning are true about other users of the 600MHz spectrum having to leave the space before it can be used, this sounds like 800MHz issues that Sprint went through and still are in some areas. Why in the hell would Sprint want to go through having the spectrum and not be able to use it? There will be issues with "squatters" not leaving regardless of the number of mandates from the FCC to leave. We all here have seen it happen. I would say it is a lesson learned for Sprint rather than saying they ignored the auction.
3. There are no chipsets to handle the spectrum currently. The build out of antennas will take three to five years. The cost to build? Eight billion dollars was one number I read. I would say it would be even higher and by a substantial margin. Even then, will TM be able to say they cover everyone? I would lean towards no.
Have a great pink bunny weekend.