LightShed: T-Mobile Using 600 MHz Leases to Boost 5G Offering

T-Mobile is working to build up its 600 MHz portfolio, seeking regulatory approval for a lease with TStar, “a 600 MHz spectrum holder we previously identified as a potential target for T-Mobile,” LightShed’s Walter Piecyk told investors Thursday. “5G deployments on low-band spectrum provide T-Mobile subscribers with the broad ‘dedicated 5G coverage’ that its management team has been promoting,” the analyst wrote: “Unfortunately, T-Mobile’s low-band spectrum is not deep enough to deliver 5G speeds that are materially different than LTE, especially when they also plan to dedicate a portion to LTE.” This is T-Mobile’s third lease of 600 MHz spectrum, following leases from Dish Network and Columbia Capital, he said. It adds about 300 million MHz-POPs to the 2.3 billion MHz-POPs of 600 MHz spectrum T-Mobile previously leased, he said. At an estimated cost of $1.50 per MHz/POP, Piecyk said the annual cost to T-Mobile is about $300 million.