The company, which is majority owned by Deutsche Telekom, said the move followed its merger on 1 April last year with Sprint to create a competitor to AT&T and Verizon.
“T-Mobile already has the largest 5G network in the country,” said Neville Ray (pictured), T-Mobile president of technology. “These agreements with our longstanding 5G partners Nokia and Ericsson will help us take our 5G leadership even further, delivering ever-better experiences for our customers for years to come.”
Nokia’s said it will supply its AirScale Radio platform to deploy an ultra capacity 5G layer with 2.5GHz massive MIMO [multiple input, multiple output] technology.
Under the new agreement, Nokia will continue to expand T-Mobile’s extended range — low-band — 5G coverage. Both the extended range and ultra capacity enhancements will augment user experience and network capacity by leveraging T-Mobile’s multi-layer spectrum strategy, said the company.
In a separate announcement, made less than two hours after Nokia’s, Ericsson said will expand and enhance T-Mobile’s 5G footprint by supplying equipment, software, and related services from its Ericsson Radio System portfolio.
This includes active and passive antennas, providing T-Mobile with support across its entire spectrum portfolio for the best 5G experience and cost-efficiency: low-band for coverage indoors and outside, complemented by massive MIMO capacity over mid-bands and high-bands for fast speeds and low latencies.
Ray commented about both five-year contracts. About Ericsson he said: “This agreement takes our twenty-year relationship with Ericsson to build, expand and enhance the T-Mobile network even further into the 5G era, enabling us to bring more 5G coverage, speed and capacity to more people across the country.”
Nokia had him saying: “From the moment Sprint became part of T-Mobile, we’ve been rapidly combining networks for a supercharged Un-carrier experience while continuing to aggressively expand our nationwide 5G footprint.”
