T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray today said the wireless operator is looking at more than doubling the geographic coverage of LTE footprint year on year.
Its LTE network now covers 260 million Americans coast to coast against 250 million in Q3 2014. T-Mobile does not share specific LTE customer base.
“2015 will be the year our low-band spectrum comes fully to life with additional LTE coverage and many more devices to support LTE on low-band spectrum,” Ray said.
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According to the earlier guidance, T-Mobile targeted capital expenditures (Capex) of $4.3 to $4.6 billion during 2015. In the third quarter of 2014, cash Capex were $1.1 billion, up from $0.9 billion in the second quarter of 2014 against $1.0 billion in the third quarter of 2013.
T-Mobile CTO said its Wideband LTE, which offers 50 percent faster LTE speeds, is live in 121 metro areas. Customers have observed speeds in excess of 100 Mbps in New York.
T-Mobile targets to cover 280 million people with LTE by mid-2015. “I expect to reach 300 million Americans by the end of 2015. With some areas getting T-Mobile LTE for the first time, many new customers will now have T-Mobile LTE as a great option,” Ray added.
T-Mobile has moved more than 70 percent of the MetroPCS spectrum onto the T-Mobile network to provide faster LTE performance in many key markets. The telecom operator added more spectrum to 700 MHz portfolio, most recently in Seattle and Portland.
T-Mobile clocked an average of 19.2 million VoLTE calls and 6.6 million Wi-Fi Calling calls by its customers each and every day.
T-Mobile expects to drive further momentum while continuing to invest in profitable growth.
Earlier, T-Mobile said its branded postpaid net customer additions for 2014 will be between 4.3 and 4.7 million against prior guidance of 3 to 3.5 million.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com