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T-Mobile US says almost 50% of traffic is carried on its 5G network

T-Mobile is pacing to increase enterprise market share to 20% by end-2025

Speaking this week at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, T-Mobile US executives tied network differentiation to opportunities in rural and smaller markets, and among enterprises and governments.

According to Neville Ray, president of technology, T-Mobile’s 5G network, including 600 MHz and 2.5 GHz obtained in the Sprint merger, is “very, very close to crossing 50% of traffic” carried, and over 40% of subscribers’ smartphones are 5G-compatible.

Ray discussed the “massive synergies” available to T-Mobile US as it decommissions Sprint cell sites and migrates those customers onto the combined network. He said the decommissioning process would peak mid-year resulting in taking 80% of Sprint’s sites offline; tens of thousands of sites will be decommed throughout 2022.

“We have to upgrade the sites that we’re keeping,” Ray explained. “That work is already progressing well. Over the two years, we’ve spent a lot of time really understanding information and data about Sprint customer usage on the network we didn’t have access to previously. Now we’re able to, on a site-by-site basis, measure and quantify customer impact.” Operational savings associated with the decomm process has “always been a key, underlying thesis on this deal.”

Company CFO Peter Osvaldik said high-level priorities in 2022 will be consistent with the previous year. Specifically, he called out building the network “to give us a durable advantage in the 5G era,” continuing the Sprint integration, and cultivating the Magenta service brand. He also mentioned growth opportunities in smaller or rural markets, which he reckons is about 40% of Americans, and in home broadband delivered by fixed wireless access.

On the enterprise side, T-Mobile last year laid out its goal to grow from less than 10% to 20% market share. “We’ve made significant traction” towards that goal, Osvaldik said noting that if the current win-rate stays the same, T-Mo will hit that goal.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Sean Kinney, Editor in Chief
Sean Kinney, Editor in Chief
Sean focuses on multiple subject areas including 5G, Open RAN, hybrid cloud, edge computing, and Industry 4.0. He also hosts Arden Media's podcast Will 5G Change the World? Prior to his work at RCR, Sean studied journalism and literature at the University of Mississippi then spent six years based in Key West, Florida, working as a reporter for the Miami Herald Media Company. He currently lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.