CEO of Maine-based Redzone Jim McKenna said he knew the company would need to work with T-Mobile to prevent any potential interference after it bought 2.5GHz spectrum in 2022. The company has been providing 2.5 GHz fixed wireless access services in Maine for over a decade.
T-Mobile never got back and launched its 5G network in Maine as soon as it got the green light from the FCC to light up its 2.5GHz holdings in the state. Redzone’s customers immediately started suffering from dropped connections. Some customers even left the company because of the interference.
While McKenna wants to work this out with T-Mobile, he might end up lodging a complaint with the FCC or filing a lawsuit.
NextWave, which runs 2.5 GHz services in New York, says a large part of its network in the city has been crippled because of interference from T-Mobile. The company has also observed similar interference in some of the other cities where it’s building its 2.5GHz private wireless network.
NextWave hopes that the FCC will take action against T-Mobile.
These concerns are not enough to deter T-Mobile, which continues with its attempts to buy even more 2.5GHz licenses. It’s not clear whether the FCC will side with these smaller fixed wireless providers as the FCC has in the past dismissed one similar complaint. That doesn’t mean that T-Mobile has a free pass to do as it likes, as is evident by the fact that the FCC asked the company to divest some of its 2.5GHz winnings in Hawaii to protect competition.
