T-Mobile (TMUS, Financial) recently announced its plans for starting the trial testing for 5G data speed on its network. The national carrier will conduct the preliminary 5G test in collaboration with Nokia (NOK, Financial) in the second half of 2016.
The two companies would be testing various cases while looking into advance technology development. At a conference call following T-Mobile’s fourth-quarter results, the company’s CEO John Legere called Verizon (VZ, Financial) out for claiming how fast 5G could be even though the standards are yet to be set.
T-Mobile is leaving no stone unturned to give both AT&T (T, Financial) and Verizon a tough fight in the 5G race. Both AT&T and Verizon have plans to take up the testing of 5G this year.
Details
T-Mobile will go through several lab and field tests to study the effectiveness of 5G technology on the carrier’s network. The experiment's purpose is to explore the technology in the preliminary stage to assess how it fares compared to the company’s expectation and if it meets requirements. The wireless provider would be looking for greater upload and download speed, better network efficiency and higher network coverage in the testing stage.
T-Mobile will be building a prestandard 5G test network in collaboration with Nokia during the later half of this year. Nokia has already been delivering LTE solutions to T-Mobile. The company is now set to join forces with the national carrier to experiment and develop 5G technology. The two companies would be using frequency in the 28 Ghz band for this purpose. This will help the third-largest U.S. wireless provider to assess the evolving 5G technology and discover various commercial opportunities.
Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s chief technology officer, said, "We're looking forward to working with Nokia to bring 5G capabilities out of the lab and into field trials with LTE technology and spectrum we already have today. Building on investments we've made to deliver America's fastest 4G LTE, this puts us on the path to real 5G use cases once 5G consumer smartphones are available in the 2020-plus timeframe."
Maintaining a competitive edge
Verizon has already been in the news regarding 5G trials and testing that are already under way. The Big Red revealed information regarding its field trials. T-Mobile does not want to lag in this contest. Verizon’s marketing team went as far as promoting the slogan “5G is coming.” Verizon said that it has already witnessed early success in the experimenting stage, suggesting that the technology is nearing commercialization. The largest wireless carrier said that it saw a download speed higher than 10 Gbps during the trials.
T-Mobile, however, carries a different opinion. Ray asserts 5G-enabled smartphones and other devices would not come before 2020 although Verizon appears to be preparing for “some level of commercial deployment” for some time next year.
The second-largest U.S. carrier, AT&T, has also entered the 5G space. The company said that the approval to acquire DirecTV (DTV, Financial) and the condition to enhance Internet access in certain areas has helped it gain an edge over peers to be a pioneer in 5G. AT&T claims it has an advantage over Verizon after having acquired DirecTV’s large network span.
Verizon's and AT&T's advancements in this space have led T-Mobile to move forward and begin working with Nokia to start its own 5G trials to remain competitive. The aggressive wireless provider’s “uncarrier” moves have been constantly challenging Verizon and AT&T. T-Mobile has been rapidly expanding its subscriber base, and its endeavor to explore the 5G arena is a threat to major carriers.
