A contract crew for Verizon works on a cell tower to update it to handle the new 5G network in Orem, Utah, on Dec. 10, 2019.
T-Mobile’s turnaround started eight years ago, following a failed takeover by AT&T. It had lost 1.7 million customers the previous year and was a distant fourth among wireless carriers in the U.S., with a network so dinky that Apple Inc. didn’t even bother making a version of the iPhone for it.
Recasting itself as an irreverent, pink-hued underdog, T-Mobile US Inc. has not only caught up with larger rivals, but actually begins 2021 with a significant lead building out a 5G network in the U.S. Last April, T-Mobile purchased Sprint Corp. for $26.5 billion. The deal, which followed multiple unsuccessful attempts at consolidation among carriers in the last decade, created a company with a vast spectrum on which to build its next-generation network.
Total Low-Band and Midband Holdings by Carrier
Data: Cowen
T-Mobile is now second only to Verizon Communications Inc. in phone subscribers, a result of both its marketing blitz and the Sprint deal. And T-Mobile, led by its president of technology, Neville Ray, has aggressively expanded its network. The company is on the cusp of offering the first truly national 5G network in the U.S., outrunning AT&T Inc. and Verizon in the shift to the next generation of wireless networks and effectively upending the pecking order among U.S. carriers.
“For many years, Verizon hammered its competitors time and time again with ‘the best network’ and their big red coverage map. Well, the map is looking quite magenta today in terms of 5G coverage around the country,” says Sasha Javid, chief operating officer of wireless data company BitPath.
T-Mobile’s advantage in 5G relies on its control of midband spectrum, with frequencies from 2 gigahertz to 6 gigahertz. This is prime real estate for 5G networks, because of its ability to carry signals farther than higher frequencies while handling more data than lower frequencies.
By the end of 2020, T-Mobile had expanded its midband 5G network in enough cities to reach more than 100 million people. Verizon and AT&T took a different approach, blanketing the country with low-band 5G while setting up pockets of superfast high-frequency 5G in several cities.
All three companies are bidding in a new auction for the rights to more than $80 billion worth of midband spectrum. Even if AT&T and Verizon win most of the licenses, the frequencies won’t be available on the networks until the end of the year at the earliest. But T-Mobile holds enough existing spectrum to get started now. It should enjoy a year of 5G network superiority and is aiming to cover the country with a midband 5G network by the end of 2021.
Verizon has long trumpeted its advantage on speed and reliability, leaving T-Mobile to offer customers lower prices and more flexibility. “T-Mobile has an opportunity to position itself as the new premium 5G network in this country,” says BitPath’s Javid. “That means more subscribers, lower churn, higher-value customers, and premium prices. These were advantages that Verizon has enjoyed for years.”
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January 22, 2021 at 06:00PM
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5G Network: T-Mobile (TMUS) Leads Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T) to Start 2021 - Bloomberg
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