T-Mobile’s 5G network leadership strategy hinges on 90% coverage, including rural America

It still wants to blanket 250 million Americans with true 5G coverage in the mid-bands next year, and make those covered 300 million by the end of 2023 as the rollout in rural areas will be rather slow compared to the densely populated cities. The Un-carrier will be adding extra features since the last time we heard about its 5G expansion plans, though, such as carrier aggregation within its midband spectrum that will increase download speeds further. 

Another important new addition will be the so-called Voice over New Radio (VoNR) technology. Even though we’ve had 5G data networks for a good while, voice calls still largely go through the 4G LTE network, whereas by introducing VoNR the 5G network will soon be able to handle both calls and data, paving the way for the 4G LTE network sunset on T-Mobile. That is still a long way off, though.

Currently, T-Mobile is doing an abundance of testing for voice calls over its 5G network, and the first phones to support VoNR are expected as soon as 2022, perhaps by the time the Galaxy S22 models hit the shelves this spring, as Samsung’s phones have traditionally been at the forefront of these newfangled 5G technologies. According to T-Mobile’s President of Technology Neville Ray, “with LTE we rolled out data first, then later VoLTE… To have a good, strong reliable voice service on 5G you need a big, strong 5G footprint.  It’s important to work out any kinks because once a call is set up on 5G it’s undesirable for it to get bumped down to LTE. Every time those changes happen you can have potential problems.”

T-Mobile 5G network coverage plans by 2023

 

• Recent C band investment further positions T-Mobile’s superiority for 5G era.
• Already delivering 5G across more geographic coverage than AT&T and Verizon combined.
• Only operator to have deployed dedicated mid-band spectrum for 5G.

 

• T-Mobile’s superior 5G network to unlock growth opportunities in new markets, deepen relationships with customers and take the competition to cable.
• Plans to increase share of smaller markets and rural areas to nearly 20% in next 5 years.
• Expect to double market share in enterprise in next 5 years.
• Bring competition to the $90 billion broadband market, targeting 7-8 million customers in 5 years.

 

• Expect total net present value of merger synergies to be more than $70 billion – up more than 60% from original merger guidance of $43 billion.
• Expect total run rate cost synergies to reach ~$7.5 billion per year by 2024 – up 25% from original merger guidance of $6 billion per year.

 

• Raising mid-term and long-term guidance across the board w/ higher service revenue, Core Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow.
• Potentially up to $60 billion in shareholder return between 2023-2025.