On top of expanding and strengthening its LTE coverage, T-Mobile said it will use a portion of its $8 billion mother lode of low-band 600 MHz spectrum to start delivering nationwide 5G coverage in 2019 with a target of full nationwide coverage by 2020.
T-Mobile said it will leverage multiple spectrum bands to deliver true nationwide Mobile 5G coverage. T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray penned a blog explaining the breadth and depth of the Un-carrier’s nationwide Mobile 5G.
On top of its nationwide deployment, T-Mobile 5G will enable high bandwidth and massive throughput in urban areas using a combination of mid-band and millimeter wave spectrum.
T-Mobile said the 600 MHz 5G network will deliver increased radio efficiency, immense numbers of connected devices, lower latency and improved battery life and reliability, all of which Mobile 5G will make possible. T-Mobile expects to deploy 5G in its low-band 600 MHz spectrum quickly across its existing nationwide macro network, in contrast with the carriers’ millimeter wave spectrum plans, which would require a number of small cells so massive that providing broad coverage would be impossible.
Along with device and infrastructure partners, T-Mobile added that it will also help drive 3GPP certification for 5G in 600 MHz. As 5G standards are defined, chipsets are delivered, and equipment comes to market, T-Mobile will quickly deploy 5G nationwide in a large swath of unused spectrum.
John Legere, President and CEO, T-Mobile
The carriers are using 5G to either distract from how badly they’re losing today or to give their shareholders some hope they can compete with Big Cable. Their ambitious vision for Fixed 5G to replace home internet will never provide mobile 5G coverage. It makes no sense.
Borje Ekholm, President and CEO, Ericsson
The 600 MHz spectrum will allow 5G to be deployed nationwide, bringing the ultimate experiences to T-Mobile’s enterprise customers and consumers throughout the United States. We will support T-Mobile US with 5G radio development for this spectrum. Commercial availability of the product will be aligned with 3GPP standardization and ecosystem support.
