T-Mobile's Ray Says 'a Lot of Wood to Chop' on Integrating Sprint

T-Mobile will cover 40 million in the U.S. with 5G using its 2.5 GHz spectrum by the end of this week, with 100 million by the end of this year and 200 million by the end of 2021, said Neville Ray, president-technology, at a BCG/New Street Research conference Tuesday. “We have spent a long time leveling the playing field on coverage.” Midband 5G will give his carrier an advantage over AT&T and Verizon, he said. “That is where folks are going to see a really differentiated, high-capacity, high-speed performance layer,” he said: “They are going to see it from T-Mobile with broad coverage and ubiquitous coverage very, very fast.” No carrier could provide enough coverage to reach a broad market using high-band spectrum, he said. Millimeter wave has its place but will never “deliver a phone in your hand, wherever you go, with multi-GB speed,” he said: “It is mythical.” Ray said that when the pandemic started, he got nervous as some local governments shut down their permitting offices. Most have gone to online processing, he said. “They worked through the pandemic, work effectively with us, and so now I have this huge volume of permits.” Sprint integration should be mostly complete within two years, and changing over billing could take more time, he said. “We still have a lot of wood to chop.”