T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) this week announced their plan to establish a nationwide 5G network. In a video blog, T-Mobile president and CEO John Legere laid out the carrier’s 5G strategy, “I’m announcing that T-Mobile is committing to build a real nationwide mobile 5G network using the new spectrum we acquired,” breaking from the common industry perception that 5G will primarily operate on higher mmWave spectrum bands, “Part of our new 600 MHz spectrum is going to LTE, then part will be dedicated to a fantastic nationwide 5G network,” Legere continued, “5G will ultimately use all the spectrum bands. There is no such thing as 5G spectrum. It’s just spectrum, and 5G will work on all of it.”
In a related statement from T-Mobile, the carrier also announced they will be teaming up with Nokia and Ericsson for 5G equipment development for their network. Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia said, “Nokia is proud of its 20-year history of working alongside T-Mobile to build their next generation networks. With its future network plans to pursue Mobile 5G on 600MHz, we stand ready to take T-Mobile into the next decade.”
Ericsson President and CEO, Borje Ekholm, said the following, “The 600 MHz spectrum will allow 5G to be deployed nationwide, bringing the ultimate experiences to T-Mobile’s enterprise customers and consumers throughout the United States,” Ekholm continued, “We will support T-Mobile US with 5G radio development for this spectrum.”
With an emphasis on how important he believes it is for 5G to be deployed nationwide, Legere also highlighted some of the truly remarkable technological advancements 5G will bring to society. In addition to simply making applications faster and better, 5G could make innovations possible such as immersive augmented reality and ear pieces that translate languages in real time, among other advancements.
Although he did not announce specific timelines in his video blog post, Legere had the following to say about where the industry currently stands on 5G, “5G standards are still being defined, and there’s a lot of work to do, but it will be here in the next two to three years, and it will be incredible, and T-Mobile will be at the forefront of unlocking the 5G future for everyone.”
