T-Mobile ‘Ultra-capacity’ 5G covers for 200 million people in the U.S.
T-Mobile’s lead in midband 5G has increased, with the carrier announcing on Monday that it has reached its 2021 goal of getting 200 million people covered with this faster cellular network, coming in six weeks ahead of its previously target by the end of this year.
The telco said in a statement that the “Ultra Capacity 5G can deliver blazing fast speeds to large areas of the country, powering 5G smartphones to the next level of performance and paving the way for innovators and entrepreneurs to deliver transformational 5G experiences.”
Ahead of schedule, a growing majority of Americans have access to a transformational 5G experience, marking an inflection point in the 5G journey, the statement added.
On the other hand, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) describes a nationwide cellular network as one that covers 200 million people.
“We’re delivering game changing Ultra Capacity 5G to people across the country at an unprecedented pace, putting us in a network leadership position with a two-year head start on the competition. And that gap is only getting wider as we speed up,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile.
“Only T-Mobile is delivering a 5G network capable of truly transforming the smartphone experience – 5G’s first killer app – and that’s just the beginning. With Ultra Capacity 5G nationwide, we’re unleashing innovators across the country to build new 5G applications that will change the world,” he noted.
In parallel, rivals AT&T and Verizon have similar plans to launch their faster midband 5G networks, spending billions of dollars obtaining new wireless spectrum known as C-band from the FCC this year.
The rivals planned to start launching these respective services in parts of some U.S. cities in 2021, meanwhile the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration objected due to safety concerns about this spectrum band in relation to the altimeters found in planes. As a result, the carriers delayed the deployment until Jan. 5.
In addition, a report commissioned by T-Mobile validates that T-Mobile delivers the fastest 5G download and upload speeds in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Orlando and Salt Lake City based on thousands of tests from research firm umlaut.
The Un-carrier’s 5G download speeds were 4x faster than AT&T and over 3x faster than Verizon on average across the four cities, according to the report. Ultra-Capacity 5G was also available nearly 75 percent of the time on average compared to just 2 percent for Verizon’s Ultra-Wideband.
Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile said, “We’ve been working toward the 5G future for years with one thing in mind: 5G FOR ALL.”
“That means an amazing 5G experience for people across the country, whether they’re in a city like New York or one like Helena, Montana. Our Ultra Capacity 5G is delivering just that, and I’m incredibly proud of the T-Mobile team working to deploy this network ahead of schedule for our customers,” he highlighted.