T-Mobile To Be The First To Offer “5G” Wireless

Well this certainly will give T-Mobile an advantage over its competitors in the wireless arena. The company just announced that it plans to build the nation’s very first mobile “5G” wireless network. The company was the biggest winner in the FCC spectrum auction and intends to use what it has won in order to pull off this new endeavor.

Chief technology officer Neville Ray said in an interview, “We’re going to run at it and run at it hard.” According to Ray, the company’s 5G roll out is scheduled to begin in 2019. It then plans to have full nationwide coverage in 2020.

While Verizon and AT&T are also planning on designing and bringing this kind of wireless to its customers, it will be T-Mobile who does it first.

T-Mobile walked away with 45% of the 600 Mhz “low band” spectrum at the FCC auction. It paid nearly $8 billion for the haul, making it the largest investment for the company ever. Verizon didn’t get involved in the auction as Nicola Palmer, the company’s chief network officer said, “We simply don’t need it.” The company did announce that it would be conducting 5G trials in 11 U.S. markets sometime this year.

“The next big technological innovations are coming in 5G to serve the future needs of business, education, government and consumers,” said Palmer. “Enhanced fixed and mobile broadband, low-latency services and massive IoT scale will thrive on mid-band and millimeter wave spectrum, which is where we are focused for growth. This means more connected services and devices, and higher broadband capacity that can benefit our entire society.”

Palmer even threw shade at T-Mobile when she said, “One competitor spent $8 billion for 600 MHz spectrum to finally acquire a national low-band spectrum position. They need it, desperately.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) nor Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and have not been compensated for this article.