Will T-Mobile actually build out a nationwide 3G UMTS network before Cingular does? The Tea Mob got a big boost from the final results of the most recent FCC spectrum auctions, where the government sold off chunks of the 1700 Mhz and 2100 Mhz bands. Both bands are prime territory for 3G cellular technology; in fact, most of the rest of the world has installed 3G on a slightly different segment of 2100 Mhz than we'll be using.

T-Mobile grabbed swathes of spectrum nationwide, winning 120 bids covering 474 million people. Yes, there are fewer than 474 million people in the US; that just means they grabbed multiple chunks of spectrum in some metro areas. A T-Mobile press release says the licenses cover "the continental United States, Hawaii, Puerto Rico/US Virgin Islands, Alaska, and major markets including New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago."

T-Mobile has historically been squeezed for spectrum, which is one of the reasons they haven't rolled out 3G before now. This big land grab puts them on track to deliver UMTS in 2007 as they've hinted at.

Other big winners include NextWave, a holding company with a lot of interest in mobile WiMax that intends to "... deliver advanced, mobile broadband products and services to the market" under other companies' brands (read: spectrum for hire!) and SpectrumCo, a consortium of cable companies allied with Sprint. Sprint, you may recall, has already said that they're planning to roll out nationwide WiMax as their 4G strategy.

In terms of the largest, "regional" licenses, T-Mobile grabbed at least one for every region of the country except Alaska. The most expensive license was a terrifying 1.3 billion spent for 20 Mhz in the Northeast US, sniped by Verizon from under T-Mobile's nose.

From my personal perspective here in NYC, I'm thrilled to see that MetroPCS won two 10 Mhz slices of spectrum here. MetroPCS is well known in other cities for their cheap flat-rate wireless plans, and New York needs the additional competition.

Do your own reporting at the FCC site and tell us what you find.