T-Mobile US has confirmed that it will launch its nationwide 5G mobile service on 6 December. The network will utilise the 600MHz band and cover 200 million people from launch. The cellco’s website notes: ‘Other 5G only covers city blocks. Ours covers thousands of miles.’ In 2017 T-Mobile paid USD7.993 billion for a total of 1,525 regional 600MHz licences and has already used the spectrum to support its ‘Extended Range LTE’ service, which is up and running in more than 2,700 locations.
TeleGeography notes that T-Mobile launched its original millimetre wave (mmWave)-powered 5G network in parts of six cities on 28 June 2019, namely: Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York. However, the cellco has always maintained that the 600MHz band would be the cornerstone of its 5G strategy, with CEO John Legere dismissing Verizon’s mmWave-reliant 5G network as ‘a first mover play’ and ‘dead in the water’ earlier this year.