T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint was a brilliant move on the part of the carrier because it gave the upstart wireless provider control over Sprint’s hoard of mid-band 2.5GHz spectrum. Using mid-band spectrum is the key to T-Mobile’s 5G layer cake system that starts with the 600MHz low-band airwaves that travel great distances but deliver 5G speeds that are not much faster than 4G. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the extremely fast high-band mmWave spectrum with signals that are limited in distance and are easily blocked by structures.
AT&T and Nokia team up to successfully complete the carrier’s first test call over its C-band mid-range spectrum
AT&T’s 5G delivers faster data speeds, larger capacity, and faster latency
The nation’s third largest carrier, by the end of 2023 AT&T hopes to cover 200 million people with C-band signals which will beat Verizon’s announced schedule. In March, AT&T and Nokia signed a five-year deal that will enable the carrier to cover the United States with Nokia’s C-band airwaves. Nokia last year became the first 5G supplier to use C-band to successfully complete a trial in the states.
AT&T hopes to enable 5G C-band calls for subscribers later this year
Paritosh Rai, who oversees AT&T’s 5G Project Management Office, stated that “Bringing 5G innovation to market is very important to our teams. Working on these C-band field test calls gave us a feeling of, ‘Let’s make history again!'” Later this year, AT&T is expected to flick the switch that will make C-band signals available to the first batch of AT&T’s 5G customers.
