GigaOM Pro

Reuters’ Sinead Carew offered up this insightful post this morning examining how a lack of spectrum may drive some risky tie-ups. That’s not a new angle, of course — my colleagues Ryan Kim and Stacey Higginbotham have documented how the quest for more airwaves is behind all sorts of M&A rumors involving everyone from T-Mobile and Sprint to LightSquared, MetroPCS and Leap Wireless. The challenge for all these players won’t just be finding the right partner(s), it will be integrating networks and services in the most efficient ways possible — and doing it before the competition does.