T-Mobile chief technology officer Neville Ray has shared the latest updates on the company’s LTE network roll outs.
The company promises better coverage and improved speed to Americans in both metro and rural areas. T-Mobile says the network will be more reliable. 700 MHz A-Block spectrum will be the backbone of its network strategy for the year, Ray said his blog post today.
Ray said T-Mobile has closed the deal to acquire low-band 700 MHz A-Block spectrum that was announced in January 2014. This will boost broadband speed and quality of services (QoS).
Also read: T-Mobile Capex to increase to around $4.6 billion in 2014
The addition of 700 MHz A-Block spectrum will enable T-Mobile to improve LTE network coverage for 158 million Americans in 9 of the top 10 and 21 of the top 30 metro areas.
T-Mobile customers in areas such as New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Washington D.C., and Detroit will get the improved network coverage.
Also read: T-Mobile will not win LTE battle with AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, says Strategy Analytics
However, the American telecoms will offer 4G LTE on the 700 MHz spectrum before the end of the year only. The main benefit will be better network access in more locations and coverage will penetrate more effectively into homes and offices. In-building coverage will also improved, said T-Mobile CTO in his blog post.
T-Mobile CTO said LTE in both new 700 MHz spectrum as well as 1900 MHz will benefit Americans in rural areas as well. They can enjoy improved 4G network against the earlier 2G/EDGE coverage in new places.
He also spoke about broadband speed.
“We’ve already enhanced our LTE by deploying 10+10 MHz 4G LTE in 43 of the top 50 metro areas, delivering download speeds up to 72 Mbps,” Ray said.
Sprint Spark network will deliver 60 Mbps. In November, T-Mobile began deployments of Wideband LTE with 15+15 MHz and 20+20 MHz to offer download speeds up to147 Mbps.
Will Sprint acquire T-Mobile?
Meanwhile, Bloomberg today reported that Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, which owns about 80 percent of Sprint, is expected to make a formal bid for T-Mobile US in June or July.
Also read: Will Sprint make a mistake by buying T-Mobile?
The main challenge for Sprint is to make convince the telecom carrier regulator there. FCC wants more competition.
While regulators have consistently expressed concerns about a combination of the third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers in the U.S., Son and his advisers are building an argument they hope will convince the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice about the long-term health of the U.S. wireless industry.
SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom AG, which owns about 67 percent of T-Mobile, are still speaking with each other to determine who would run the company. T-Mobile CEO John Legere is the leading candidate. Deutsche Telekom wants as much cash as possible in the deal, said the Bloomberg report.
