T-Mobile takes SA 5G in 2.5GHz national
T-Mobile US boosted data rates across its home internet and mobile services by deploying 2.5GHz of mid-band spectrum across its nationwide standalone (SA) 5G network, putting it firmly ahead of rivals AT&T and Verizon.
Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s CTO, told an industry conference the operator had continued to add multiple layers in mid-band to also enable services including network slicing.
Ray said T-Mobile had committed “about 110MHz of mid-band spectrum” to 5G, which it is employing for consumer and fixed wireless access services.
He described the deployment as “pure 5G network capability” which drives spectral efficiency, improved data rates and lower latency.
“This is the most advanced network now in the US in 5G terms,” he asserted.
T-Mobile owned a large portion of mid-band 2.5GHz spectrum across the US following an acquisition of Sprint in 2020.
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It added 7,156 licences in an auction earlier this year.
The SA 5G network is also being used for a Voice over New Radio (VoNR) service which Neville stated T-Mobile planned to offer nationwide by early 2023. “Then not just will data live in a pure 5G lane, but so will voice.”
“We’re making real progress with our VoNR. It’s not easy.”
T-Mobile completed its first SA 5G core in 2020 using 600MHz spectrum to improve performance on its low-band.
Verizon started migrating commercial traffic onto an SA 5G core last month, while AT&T is taking a regional approach.
