T-Mobile CEO Says Buying Sprint Will Mean 5G for Everyone

T-Mobile's buying Sprint is all about 5G, T-Mobile CEO John Legere blogged Wednesday. “Only the New T-Mobile will have the spectrum, network assets and scale to light up the country’s first truly nationwide, broad and deep 5G network across all types of radio spectrum -- from big cities to rural America,” Legere said. “We’ll do it by bringing together T-Mobile’s low-band and mmWave spectrum and Sprint’s mid-band spectrum on a combined network, to build the highest capacity network in U.S. history -- a whopping 400 MHz+ total spectrum for customers nationwide on average.” Legere contrasted T-Mobile’s 5G with what has been unveiled by the top two U.S. carriers. “Verizon is talking up what amounts to 5G hot spots in big cities” and leading on 5G “fakery,” he said, while AT&T is pushing 5G Evolution (see 1901080024). “AT&T isn’t even bothering to roll out fake 5G -- they’re just rolling out a fake 5Gicon,” Legere said: “They’re literally changing the icon on your phone -- the same phone you had six months ago.” AT&T and Verizon didn’t comment. The transaction is "scaring the sh*t out of the competition," Legere claimed.