T-Mobile US has switched on its new 600MHz LTE network in Cheyenne, Wyoming using Nokia equipment. The launch – which T-Mobile claims is the first such deployment in the world – means that the cellco is leveraging the massive haul of low-band spectrum it won in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) 600MHz Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction far earlier than expected.
Starting in rural America, and other markets where the spectrum is already clear of broadcasting, T-Mobile plans to compress a two-year rollout process (from auction to consumer availability) into just six months. Between now and end-2017, T-Mobile intends to activate 600MHz spectrum in locations such as Wyoming, Northwest Oregon, West Texas, Southwest Kansas, the Oklahoma panhandle, Western North Dakota, Maine, Coastal North Carolina, Central Pennsylvania, Central Virginia and Eastern Washington.
TeleGeography notes that T-Mobile US agreed to pay USD7.99 billion for a total of 1,525 regional licences in the FCC licensing process, securing an average of 31MHz of 600MHz spectrum nationwide.