<P> On June 28, 2013, T - Mobile agreed to buy wireless spectrum for the Mississippi Valley region from competitor U.S. Cellular for around $308 million, allowing the company to expand its 4G network across a further 29 markets . </P> <P> On January 6, 2014, T - Mobile signed agreements with Verizon Wireless to purchase some 700 MHz A-Block spectrum licenses for $2.365 billion . Further, a transfer of some AWS and PCS spectrum licenses with a value of $950 million has been agreed upon by T - Mobile and Verizon . The acquisition reportedly gave T - Mobile additional coverage for approximately 158 million people in 9 of the top 10 and 21 of the top 30 U.S. markets . </P> <P> In December 2013, multiple reports indicated that Sprint Corporation and its parent company Softbank were working towards a deal to acquire a majority stake in T - Mobile for at least US $20 billion . The proposed merger, which would result in the country's major national carriers being controlled by only three companies, would further bolster T - Mobile's position in the overall market . Members of the government were skeptical that such an acquisition would be approved by regulators, citing antitrust concerns and an explicit goal by FCC chairman Tom Wheeler to maintain four national carriers in the United States . On April 30, 2014, Bloomberg reported that Sprint was in talks with its lenders to ensure that the company would be financially prepared for the bid, now valued at $24 billion and planned for "summer 2014". It was also reported that due to his success within the company, current T - Mobile CEO John Legere was the top contender to be named CEO of a merged Sprint / T - Mobile, and that Sprint had insisted on a low termination fee to prevent regulators from being given an incentive to block the deal, as had occurred with AT&T's failed attempt to purchase T - Mobile . </P> <P> On August 1, 2014, Xavier Niel's Iliad SA publicly announced a US $16 billion all - cash counter-bid to acquire a 56% stake in T - Mobile US, which would be funded using equity and debt . Iliad is the parent company of French carrier Free Mobile, which had--similarly to T - Mobile, performed disruptive business moves to undercut its competitors, triggering a "price war" among them upon its launch in 2012 . Credit Suisse analysts felt that the bid would not be "attractive" to the company's current shareholders due to its lower value in comparison to Sprint's bid, but could "put pressure on Sprint to move sooner rather (than) later ." </P>

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