T-Mobile CFO: 2.5 GHz Band Has Significant Advantages Over C-Band

T-Mobile’s 2.5 GHz spectrum has “about a 30% propagation advantage” over the C-band bought mainly by Verizon and AT&T, T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik said at a MoffettNathnson financial conference Tuesday. “C-band is great” and T-Mobile bought some licenses in the 2021 auction, which it plans to deploy in dense urban areas as a “fourth dedicated 5G layer,” Osvaldik said. The wireless industry can’t change the physics of spectrum, he said. The week after EchoStar reported earnings, with questions about its continual financial viability (see 2405080057), analyst Craig Moffett pressed Osvaldik on whether he sees a buying opportunity. “If hypothetically speaking, some company that owns a lot of spectrum were to suddenly unravel, and mid-band spectrum came on the market, is that something where you would say, 'I always want more spectrum?'” Moffett asked. “If there was a hypothetical spectrum availability out there, we'd approach it very similar to any other opportunity” Osvaldik replied. T-Mobile would consider the spectrum, the price and “what sort of returns can we generate on it versus other ways to create capacity than just buying more spectrum,” he said. Osvaldik said the carrier would look at that opportunity the same way it does when investing in fiber (see 2404250047) or at a potential a deal with UScellular (see 2405090053). T-Mobile is analyzing the subscribers it picked up from its acquisition of Ka’ena, including brands Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile. “We just closed,” Osvaldik said. “We've got to run it through all of our subscriber reporting rules.” The biggest question the company gets is whether actor Ryan Reynolds, who owned part of Mint, will remain. “There's so much creative work there that he's done so fabulously, so we'll continue to have a relationship with Ryan,” Osvaldik said.