Skip to main content

T-Mobile Ultra Capacity 5G expansion will cover 300 million people by 2023

The American version of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show began on Tuesday in Los Angeles, with T-Mobile’s president of technology Neville Ray as a keynote speaker. During his speech on Wednesday, Ray discussed T-Mobile’s overall 5G strategy, build numbers, marketing strategy, and rate of adoption among its customers.

Following up on T-Mobile’s dominance in the most recent Opensignal report, Ray noted that the company’s Ultra Capacity 5G now covers over 185 million people, which is up 20 million from the numbers T-Mobile released this past July. The company says it’s well on the way to reaching its target of 200 million covered by the end of this year, and T-Mobile’s target is to reach 300 million people overall with Ultra Capacity by the end of 2023.

Recommended Videos

“Opensignal’s latest report validates what our customers already know — T-Mobile’s differentiated approach to 5G is delivering meaningful 5G experiences now with ever-increasing speeds and expanding coverage,” Ray said. “Our two-year lead on building 5G will continue as we add even more Ultra Capacity coverage and expand it to reach 200 million people nationwide this year. T-Mobile customers benefit from a real 5G network that today can power immersive and transformative experiences.”

He also reported that T-Mobile’s standalone 5G network is still the only one in operation in the continental U.S., with over 20 million compatible smartphones connected to it, representing over 25% of its post-paid (under contract) customers.

Graph showing 5G coverage and spectrum depth among mobile carriers.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Ray also noted that T-Mobile plans to roll out a “broader deployment” of 5G carrier aggregation at an unspecified point in the current business quarter. This combines T-Mobile’s licensed 600Mhz and 2.5Ghz frequencies into a broader, more accessible signal.

Another planned deployment that’s currently being tested in the field is Voice over New Radio (NR), which is one area in which T-Mobile lost out to Verizon in the Opensignal report. While Ray cited no specifics, T-Mobile’s Voice over NR is planned for launch “as soon as we meet our own stringent performance targets.”

While T-Mobile isn’t without its overall weak spots, such as its data prioritization on its home Internet services or Verizon’s significant lead in mobile gaming, it’s currently got a healthy lead on actual 5G deployment. As the industry warms up for a variety of new product/service launches this December, the race to 5G appears to initially be T-Mobile’s to lose.

Thomas Hindmarch
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Thomas Hindmarch is a freelance writer with 20 years' experience in the gaming and technology fields. He has previously…
Boost Mobile’s new 5G unlimited plans are here, and they’re cheap
Boost Mobile logo as of July 2024.

Boost Mobile is shaking up the wireless industry today with the launch of its new 5G Boost Mobile Network. With the 5G Boost Mobile Network, the company is bringing consumers easy-to-understand cellular plans that are more flexible, starting at just $25/month for unlimited 5G service

This move also combines Boost Mobile and Boost Infinite into a single brand: Boost Mobile. This makes Boost Mobile the only carrier that has both prepaid and postpaid mobile services under a single name rather than splitting them up between the two names like before.

Read more
It doesn’t look like anyone can beat T-Mobile
The T-Mobile logo on a smartphone.

Even as all three big U.S. carriers continue to expand their fastest midrange 5G coverage, T-Mobile maintains a healthy lead on the competition -- especially when it comes to overall network speeds across both 4G/LTE and 5G.

That’s the word from Ookla’s H1 U.S. Connectivity Report published today. While the latest scores show that Verizon and AT&T have made considerable strides in 5G performance, they still have a long way to go before they can match T-Mobile’s lead -- and there’s an even greater gap when it comes to overall network performance.
T-Mobile’s massive 5G footprint matters

Read more
T-Mobile just made its 5G Home Internet plan cheaper; here’s the new price
Cell phone tower shooting off pink beams with a 5G logo next to it.

T-Mobile, the nation's third-largest carrier, recently dropped the price of its home internet plan. The company is also offering a prepaid Mastercard for customers who sign up for the service.

As reported by CNET, the T-Mobile Home Internet plan is decreasing in price from $60 to $50 per month. This new rate includes a $5 monthly discount for enrolling in automatic payments. Customers can save up to $20 monthly when bundling the service with the company's Go5G Next, Go5G Plus, or Magenta Max phone plans.

Read more