Verizon is taking every precaution to not fall behind other carriers with the expansion of its 4G LTE network. For the meager sum of $3.6 billion, the largest U.S carrier by market share acquired 122 advanced wireless services licenses from Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. It’s expected that Verizon’s position in the U.S telcom industry will remain intact for the time being, in light of the recent breakup of the AT&T-T-Mobile merger.

The bulk of the money, $2.3 billion, will go to Comcast, while Time Warner – the second largest shareholder of Bright House – is receiving $1.1 billion. The agreement extends quite considerably beyond the 122 licenses above, and the parties involved in the transaction have been granted permission to resell each others’ products.  Furthermore the cable companies can sell Verizon plans on a wholesale basis, and they’ve formed a joint venture with the latter to develop “technology to better integrate wireline and wireless products and services.”

Some more background on the deal:

Whilst the U.S Government is set to open its wireless spectrum to mobile operators, Verizon isn’t taking any chances and has moved to secure more bandwidth for its 4G LTE services so that it can continue to serve its expanding network of customers and offer reliable and fast data downloads.

The reason behind this decision is the growing competition Verizon faces from other carriers that are expanding into 4G. Sprint for one announced at the 4G World Conference that it will be rolling out LTE coverage of its own in 2013, and forecasts the network will be able to cover 120 million people. This is not entirely surprising, considering the third largest carrier is already having trouble keeping up with its users’ data usage, as we pointed out last month.