After launching the world’s first 600 MHz LTE sites, T-Mobile will now be carrying the LG V30, the world’s first smartphone to support 600 MHz LTE. The carrier has also unveiled its latest location in Scarborough, Maine to go live with its new super spectrum. The company also announced that beyond lighting up the new airwaves on LTE at breakneck pace, it is now simultaneously laying a foundation for true nationwide 5G with breakthrough new equipment from Ericsson that supports both LTE and 5G.
The LG V30 will be the world’s first smartphone to support LTE on 600 MHz as well as other spectrum bands available from T-Mobile, and the Un-carrier plans to launch LG’s latest flagship nationwide this fall. In addition to expanding and strengthening its LTE network with 600 MHz spectrum, the company announced plans earlier this year for a nationwide 5G network on this super-premium low-band spectrum. By deploying Ericsson’s new radio equipment, it is making 600 MHz LTE available today while building a seamless path to 5G on the 600 MHz band. When it’s time to launch 5G technology for consumers, it can upgrade the already-deployed 5G-ready equipment via a software update, effectively turning on 5G in the 600 MHz band with the flip of a switch without having to touch towers.
T-Mobile plans to continue deploying LTE on 600 MHz, starting in rural America and markets across more than 1.2 million square miles where the spectrum will be clear this year. They are trying to accomplish in six months what would normally be a two-year process from auction to consumer availability.
To bring 600 MHz LTE to customers at breakneck speed, T-Mobile is working closely with the FCC and broadcasters like PBS to clear the spectrum in record time, investing where necessary to preserve programming consumers care about while paving the way for new wireless coverage and competition for consumers. It is also working closely with network infrastructure partners, chipset makers and device manufacturers. In addition to LG, Samsung also plans to launch phones that tap into this new spectrum.
Just two weeks ago, Cheyenne, Wyoming became the first city in the world to go live with a 600 MHz LTE network; and now that Scarborough, Maine has joined the club, both are about to get a lot more company. This year alone, T-Mobile is on track to launch 600 MHz LTE in parts of Wyoming, Northeast and Southwest Oregon, West Texas, Southwest Kansas, the Oklahoma panhandle, Western North Dakota, additional areas of Maine, Coastal North Carolina, Central Pennsylvania, Central Virginia and Eastern Washington.
Earlier this month, T-Mobile swept the awards in OpenSignal’s comprehensive wireless network study – based on more than five billion tests from real wireless customers – something no other major wireless company has ever done. And, with new 600 MHz spectrum accelerating the Un-carrier’s LTE expansion into rural America, T-Mobile is making America’s best unlimited network even better. The company doubled its LTE coverage since 2015, currently covering 315 million people with plans to cover 321 million by year’s end. It owns a whopping average of 31 MHz of 600 MHz spectrum licenses that can cover every single American across the nation with low band spectrum that reaches twice as far and is four times better in buildings than mid-band.
