T-Mobile US will delay the sunset of its CDMA network, announcing in a blog post that it now plans to shut down the former Sprint CDMA network in March 2022 instead of January 1, 2022. This gives users like Dish Network more time to transition their users to new devices.
“To build out our revolutionary network that will deliver the broadest and deepest 5G experience FOR ALL across the country, we need to sunset outdated CDMA technologies as soon as possible so every consumer, no matter their circumstances, will have access to the best connectivity and best experience. This is why we have aggressively executed on plans to take care of transitioning our impacted Sprint CDMA customers by the end of this year and provided our partners plenty of time and resources to take care of their customers as well,” T-Mo said in its blog post, before shifting into some snark. “Recently it’s become increasingly clear that some of those partners haven’t followed through on their responsibility to help their customers through this shift. So, we’re stepping up on their behalf. We have made the decision to extend our deadline for the CDMA sunset by three months to March 31, 2022.”
The carrier said that the decision “has no material financial impact to our business and the rapid pace of our 5G buildout will continue” before adding, “There should be no more room for excuses. We have provided even more time and those partners can follow suit with the effort that is needed to ensure no one is left on the wrong side of the digital divide.”
Dish Network has protested the CDMA network shutdown, which it said was premature and which had also sparked “grave concerns” at the Department of Justice. In the meantime, Dish Network and AT&T struck a $5 billion deal to move Dish’s wireless customer traffic — including customers of its Boost Mobile, Ting Mobile and Republic Wireless brands — to AT&T’s network, instead of Dish continuing the wholesale agreement that had been worked out to use T-Mobile US’ network as part of the settlements that allowed the T-Mo’s acquisition of Sprint to move forward.
Meanwhile, there are still a few calls to the Federal Communications Commission for the agency to intervene and further delay all three of the national operators’ 3G network sunsets, which are all set for either late 2021 or early 2022.
In a recent ex parte filing with the Federal Communications Commission, the Rural Wireless Association said that its members are already seeing rural wireless customers experience degraded 3G network performance when roaming, even though the networks have not officially been shut down yet.
“While the three nationwide carriers have indicated their intent to shut down their 3G networks at varying times in 2021 or 2022, rural Americans served by RWA members are already experiencing the effects of these shutdowns,” RWA said in a filing last week. “RWA carrier members across the country are receiving reports from their rural customers of degraded or nonexistent 3G coverage.” RWA conducted a survey of its members during the second and third quarters of this year, asking whether their rural customers had experienced 3G service degradation when leaving their home networks and roaming on other carriers’ networks. RAW said that its members’ customers were have voice and data issues with 3G across the country and across all three of the national carriers’ networks, from New Jersey and Philadelphia, PA to Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nevada and Utah.
“These 3G shutdowns have a particularly harmful impact on certain categories of subscribers, namely, ranchers and farmers traveling to larger market areas outside of their home carrier’s service areas, and senior citizens who have not upgraded their handsets due to fixed incomes when they travel beyond the reach of their home carrier’s network,” RWA reported. It is asking that the FCC step in and mandate that the national carriers delay their 3G network shutdowns until December 31, 2022.
The Alarm Industry Communications Committee, in a September filing with the commission, warned of “dire consequences” unless AT&T 3G data service was extended, arguing that the coronavirus pandemic had caused unforeseen delays in being able to replace 3G radios at customer premises, and that was compounded by the global semiconductor shortage. The AICC has requested an additional 10 months to transition millions of safety-related devices off of 3G networks, including alarm systems and ankle bracelet trackers, vehicle collision avoidance and roadside assistance systems, elevator emergency phones and emergency radios for lone workers in industries in isolated places, such as agriculture and oil and gas.
