T-Mobile announces plans for real nationwide mobile 5G

The Un-carrier unveils a vision for 5G in all spectrum bands, plans to deploy America’s first nationwide 5G wireless network

Bellevue, Washington — May 2, 2017 — Fresh off its game-changing results in the US government’s historic 600 MHz spectrum auction and another industry-leading quarter, T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) today became the first US wireless company to announce plans for truly nationwide 5G. On top of expanding and strengthening its LTE coverage, the Un-carrier will use a portion of its $8 billion mother lode of low-band 600 MHz spectrum to deliver 5G coverage from coast to coast.

T-Mobile president and CEO John Legere laid out the Un-carrier’s strategy to deliver 5G coverage to customers across the country in a video blog published today.

“5G will be amazing, and we can’t even imagine all the cool stuff it will bring, just like with our earlier network innovations. That’s why truly mobile 5G has to be nationwide -- period, the end,” said John Legere, president and CEO of 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.”

The Un-carrier will leverage multiple spectrum bands to deliver true nationwide Mobile 5G coverage. The Duopoly are approaching 5G much like a series of hotspots in select cities—with 5G coverage that will completely disappear once customers step outside these limited 5G zones, meaning their 5G experiences disappear too.

T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray penned a blog explaining the breadth and depth of the Un-carrier’s nationwide Mobile 5G.

“There’s no such thing as ‘5G spectrum,’ and in the next decade we’ll see everything moving to 5G,” said Neville Ray, T-Mobile CTO. “Nationwide Mobile 5G will require both high-band AND broad low-band coverage, and having unused nationwide 600 MHz spectrum means T-Mobile is in an ideal position to deliver.”

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’s 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.

“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,” said Borje Ekholm, President and CEO, Ericsson. “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.”

Beyond vastly improved speeds for mobile devices, T-Mobile expects to see a whole new class of innovative mobile applications and solutions emerge, built for broad 5G coverage.

“The 5G networks of tomorrow have the ability to usher in tremendous commercial opportunities for service providers, vertical industries and new entrants,” said Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia. “Nokia is proud of its 20-year history of working alongside T-Mobile to build their next generation networks. With its future network plans to pursue Mobile 5G on 600MHz, we stand ready to take T-Mobile into the next decade.”

Along with device and infrastructure partners, T-Mobile will 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. 5G rollout is expected to begin in 2019 with a target of 2020 for full nationwide coverage.