Massive MIMO to play role in T-Mobile/Sprint 5G readiness

One of the things that will enable T-Mobile and Sprint to move fast with their 5G integration is a not-so-little thing called Massive multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO). Of course, it’s business as usual for each company while they make their case before regulators, but Sprint CTO John Saw said one of the things that will make for a faster integration is Massive MIMO, something Sprint has been working on for some time.  “With Massive MIMO we are able to actually upgrade existing towers,” Saw said. So they don’t need to look for new sites and towers, which is more efficient in terms of acquisition and zoning. With Massive MIMO, they're upgrading existing 2.5 GHz sites, basically enabling them to broadcast LTE and 5G at the same time, he said. “You kill two birds with one stone,” Saw explained, saving both time and money. ”We can move really, really fast. That technology will be used in a combined company. That’s one of the ways that we can move fast, by upgrading the combined towers and many of the 85,000 towers will have Massive MIMO capability that will allow us to cover big territories with 5G.”