NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] T-Mobile announces LTE plans
T-Mobile announces LTE plans
No IPhone Leads 700,000 To Flee T-Mobile
Wireless Company Was Only National Carrier To Lose Customers Last Quarter
http://j.mp/wHZc1K (10News)
"On Thursday, the company said that it plans to use the $1 billion
worth of spectrum and $3 billion in cash it received from AT&T as part
of their merger agreement break-up to build an LTE network. The
build-out will start in 2013."
- - -
Several items to note from this story. It assumes the loss of subs
was from not having the iPhone (and questions if even T-M's new LTE
capabilities will be iPhone LTE compatible).
The assumption that the loss is due to iPhone envy seems problematic.
People who wanted to use the iPhone weren't on T-M anyway, so how
could the continuing lack trigger a loss? Did so many subs suddenly
decide they *had* to get iPhones when they never had them before?
Perhaps, but I suspect a much larger factor, unmentioned in the story,
was sub loss due to the then pending AT&T merger and aftermath of its
failure, causing subs to feel unsure about T-M's future. This could
easily change if T-M is serious about moving forward, as they seem
to be.
Another issue is the mention of repurposing 2G spectrum for 4G. It's
not clear to me what that actually means. I don't think (anyone know
for sure?) that you can normally operate GSM 3G without the fallback
option to 2G (I see fallbacks to 2G not all that infrequently, and
there are canyon areas in L.A. that, last time I checked, were still
T-M 2G-only). Perhaps what's really being said is that subs with
2G-only phones would be pushed upward, so that less 2G capacity
overall would be necessary (the T-M press release, see below,
appears to confirm this).
Here's a more technical article on T-Mobile's announcement:
http://j.mp/wmk9Co (Network World)
Ah, and this article has the actual T-Mobile press release, that
explicitly says 2G customers will be still be "supported" ...
http://j.mp/yOCkPS (Android Central)
Another article notes that "HSPA+ service on the 1900MHz band would
also have the side effect of providing users of unlocked Apple iPhones
with 3G/4G data on T-Mobile's network." That article implies that
HSPA+ was *moving* to 1900Mhz, but clearly T-M can't shift their
entire HSPA spectrum without instantly obseleting all customers with
current T-M compatible HSPA devices.
T-M says, "T-Mobile expects to reach broad deployment of LTE, with
service in the vast majority of the top 50 markets and 20 MHz service
in 75 percent of the top 25 markets."
I believe T-M currently has about 24 MHz AWS and is getting an
additional 7 Mhz from the AT&T merger failure, for a total of 31.
That suggests that in areas with 20 MHz LTE deployments, there would
be (you guessed it) around 11 MHz remaining for HSPA(+). If memory
serves a standard HSPA(+) carrier is 5 Mhz wide, leaving room for two.
I don't know offhand how much of their existing 20 MHz AWS spectrum
T-M is actually using at the moment. Any squeeze on existing HSPA(+)
subs may be compensated by new customers using HSPA via phones with
1900 (PCS) HSPA(+) band capabilities (recall that T-M says they'll be
deploying HSPA(+) in 1900, using some space refarmed from 2G), and
existing subs upgrading to such phones over time.
In any case, since the LTE rollout isn't due for a year, it will take
time for any of these effects to be seen.
--Lauren--
NNSquad Moderator
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