NEWS
T-Mobile US pushes 5G-Advanced nationwide, prices Starlink service
T-Mobile US CEO Mike Sievert (pictured) dropped several nuggets of news during the company’s Q1 earnings call, which included the nationwide launch of its 5G-Advanced network.
The mobile operator got a jump on rivals AT&T and Verizon by rolling out its standalone (SA) 5G network across the US in 2020, which also gave it an early lead for 5G-Advanced features such as network slicing.
“5G-Advanced is faster and more dynamic and more efficient,” Sievert said on the earnings call with analysts.
5G-Advanced also paves the way for 6G and for AR and VR services going forward, according to T-Mobile.
Sievert stated 5G-Advanced makes network slicing capabilities easier because T-Mobile is moving beyond each implementation being a bespoke programme.
“Now we’re moving into the phase where we can automate implementations for our customers, which just opens up the TAM [Total Addressable Market] considerably for us,” he explained.
T-Mobile US president of technology Ulf Ewaldsson stated on the call the company is seeing several use cases across healthcare, manufacturing and retail “where slicing provides the network experience that people really want.”
T-Satellite price tag
Sievert also announced T-Mobile plans to charge $10 per month for its T-Satellite service that goes live in July. Subscribers to its premium Experience Beyond and Go 5G Next plans will not have to pay extra.
The service provisioned by Starlink satellites will also be available to AT&T and Verizon customers for the same monthly charge, although they will need eSIM-capable and unlocked phones to access the service.
Sievert stated the initial pricing will be available for a full year. He also took a shot at rival D2D services from other operators.
“T-Satellite is the only mobile phone satellite network that keeps you connected automatically,” he said. “Our aim is simple, to make T-Satellite just work so you are always connected and reachable even with your phone still in your pocket.”
The CEO stated there are hundreds of thousands of active users signed up for the current beta test of T-Satellite.
Fibre update
With the joint venture deal to buy Lumos Networks closed on 1 April, Sievert said the company’s T-Fiber broadband service will officially launch later in Q2 after being in pilot mode for over two years.
“And we can’t wait to close our Metronet transaction soon to further expand T-Fiber and bring better broadband choices to more Americans,” he said.
While AT&T and Verizon executives are big proponents for the convergence of mobile and fibre-based services, Sievert sees fibre differently.
“Their premises are really based on the deep interplay with all the other products, so-called convergence,” Sievert said of his rivals. “But the much bigger question for us is whether or not we can—based on our know-how and our embedded investments and our big customer base and our 5G network and our data and our strength of our brand and our distribution—just quite simply on its own make a superior return in wireline fibre than a purely disinterested financial investor could. And we think we can.”
While T-Mobile’s strategy is to be “first to fibre,” Sievert doesn’t rule out deploying it in areas where there are competing services from cable companies or fixed wireless access offerings.
T-Mobile is targeting 12 to 15 million households with fibre broadband by 2030.
Numbers
T-Mobile recorded 495,000 post-paid subscribers in the quarter, short of analyst estimates of 506,400 additions and down by 37,000 from a year ago. Verizon lost post-paid subscribers in Q1 while AT&T added 324,000.
It added 424,000 high-speed Internet customers for a year-over-year increase of 19,000.
T-Mobile’s revenue rose 6.6 per cent to $20.8 billion while net income of $3 billion grew 24.4 per cent for its best ever Q1 result.