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Tag: Bob O’Donnell

  • Carriers Go All-In On Mid-Band 5G

    Carriers Go All-In On Mid-Band 5G

    The FCC’s mid-band spectrum auction has concluded its initial phase, and the bidding reveals carriers are all-in on mid-band.

    Throughout much of the world, mid-band spectrum has been the cornerstone of 5G rollouts. In the US, however, the Big Three carriers have focused on low and high-band. The only exception is T-Mobile, which inherited a wealth of mid-band spectrum from its acquisition of Sprint, and immediately began deploying it.

    As Forbes’ Bob O’Donnell points out, all three carriers have spent big at the FCC auction, speaking volumes about their view of the 5G market. Verizon has spent approximately $30 billion, AT&T has spent $20 billion and T-Mobile has spent $10 billion.

    As O’Donnell points out, regardless of how much each carrier has been touting their low-band network for its coverage, or their high-band mmWave network for its speed, mid-band is clearly where it’s at. Mid-band is widely seen as the sweet spot for 5G, offering a good balance of coverage and speed. In fact, T-Mobile has even demonstrated speeds of 1 Gps using its current mid-band spectrum. At the same time, mid-band offers far better coverage than the couple of hundred meters that mmWave offers.

    Another benefit of US carriers rallying around mid-band is that it helps phone and cellphone radio makers consolidate the number of frequencies they have to support.

    Either way, the investment is good news for customers.

  • T-Mobile Doubles Mid-Band 5G Coverage, Will Cover 100 Million By Year’s End

    T-Mobile Doubles Mid-Band 5G Coverage, Will Cover 100 Million By Year’s End

    T-Mobile has doubled the extent of its mid-band 5G coverage in just a month, with plans to provide coverage to 100 million by year’s end.

    Mid-band 5G is considered the sweet spot by many experts, providing the range and coverage needed for optimal use. T-Mobile achieved gigabit speed with its mid-band 5G in May. While high-band mmWave is often associated with gigabit speeds, it’s hampered by notoriously short range and even worse building penetration.

    “When it comes to real-world 5G, the only way to get the kind of performance benefits we’ve been promised is through the critical mid-band spectrum,” noted Bob O’Donnell, President of TECHnalysis Research. “Sure, mmWave can be fast, but it’s nearly impossible to find, while low-band 5G is easy to find, but offers smaller improvement over existing LTE. With the 2.5 GHz spectrum being lit up by T-Mobile, however, you get the sweet spot of noticeably improved performance in a respectable coverage area. That’s the kind of 5G benefit that consumers are going to notice and appreciate.”

    Thanks to T-Mobile’s Sprint acquisition, it has more mid-band spectrum than any US carriers, putting it in an excellent position to deliver on its promise.

    “Mid-band is the only way to deliver super-fast 5G speeds that can reach for miles. And here’s the secret AT&T and Verizon don’t want you to know: T-Mobile is the only one with big swaths of mid-band dedicated to 5G. T-Mobile has more mid-band spectrum than anyone else,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “We’re the only ones building a transformational 5G network built on dedicated — not shared — airwaves. And that means only T-Mobile is capable of making the world’s best 5G network a reality.”

    Today’s announcement is good news for T-Mobile subscribers.