After spending $7.99 billion to acquire 45% of the auctioned low band spectrum that was available, T-Mobile was quick to announce that it would be rolling out its 600MHz network sometime during the summer. Today, the firm has announced that it will carry the recently announced LG V30, which will be the wireless carrier"s and the world’s first smartphone to support 600MHz LTE.
It was only a couple weeks ago when the carrier launched the 600MHz spectrum in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and this week, the firm is announcing that it will go live in Scarborough, Maine. While the firm is making waves in the present, it also has ambitious plans for the future with its 5G network. T-Mobile is relying on its 600MHz spectrum for its current LTE network, but will also utilize it for its 5G network, making it available to customers with a simple software update to its cell towers.
Although the process of deploying LTE on the 600MHz band would normally take quite a bit of time, sometimes years, the firm is racing forward and is poised to offer the service starting in rural areas and expanding over 1.2 million square miles in the next six months. In order to make this a reality, T-Mobile is working closely with the FCC, device manufacturers, and more - with the goal of expanding to "parts of Wyoming, Northeast and Southwest Oregon, West Texas, Southwest Kansas, the Oklahoma panhandle, Western North Dakota, additional areas of Maine, Coastal North Carolina, Central Pennsylvania, Central Virginia and Eastern Washington".
If you"d like the finer details about the LG V30, be sure to check out our unboxing and first impressions. The handset will make its retail debut on September 21 in Korea with a global announcement expected shortly.
Source: T-Mobile