Yesterday we reported that AT&T was currently looking to buy up spectum for their 4G LTE networks. Mainly to prepare for what was coming today, which was the FCC’s approval to hand some of theirs over to T-Mobile. AT&T will be transferring some of their AWS spectrum to T-Mobile as part of the agreement from the failed merger earlier this year.

While the failed merger was bad news for both companies, today T-Mobile is celebrating the FCC approval as they’ll be getting a nice boost in network performance from the deal. This isn’t just some small markets either. The transfer will give or boost T-Mobile in 128 Cellular Market Areas (CMAs), including 12 of the top 20 markets. That is a win for team Magenta.

“We applaud the FCC for acting swiftly to approve the transfer of these spectrum licenses,” said T-Mobile’s chief technology officer Neville Ray. “Securing this additional spectrum was a key catalyst for our plans to launch LTE in 2013 and is therefore good news for our customers.”

That quote says it all right there. Basically this means that not only will this help T-Mobile build on their current network, but the transfer will play a key role in T-Mobiles late 2012 and early 2013 plans to launch a competing 4G LTE network. AT&T was originally looking to buy T-Mobile for $39 billion but after failed attempts it looks like T-Mobile made out ok here. Getting $3 billion in cash for a breakage fee, and now this spectrum transfer.

T-Mobile is sitting pretty right about now and seem plenty happy about the approval. More details can be found at T-Mobile.

[via SlashGear]