T-Mobile: 2022 5G expansion will encompass rural areas not targeted by AT&T and Verizon

T-Mobile plans to make its Ultra Capacity 5G service available to 100 million more Americans in 2022, and as the company’s President of Technology Neville Ray told investors, it will have to expand its geographic coverage five-fold to achieve that goal, reaching many rural areas. Ultra Capacity 5G is the name that T-Mobile uses for 5G deployed in mid-band spectrum, which is widely viewed as supporting the optimum mixture of range and speed. The service is currently available to 200 million Americans but reaching the next 100 million will require a lot more work, Ray said. “Our big growth area is our rural America footprint,” he said. Previously the company didn’t play in that market because its network didn’t cover those areas. According to Ray, the other nationwide carriers AT&T and Verizon haven’t announced plans to deploy 5G to the areas T-Mobile is targeting for mid-band deployments next year. T-Mobile’s 5G plans include fixed as well as mobile service, and fixed wireless could be particularly attractive in rural areas that lack equivalent high-speed options.