In a statement to Fierce Wireless, T-Mobile affirms that it is still carrying out the expansion of its LTE and 5G networks (and maintaining them), despite the COVID-19 situation – which limited many other industries operations as people all over the world are ordered to stay at home.
A T-Mobile spokesperson told Fierce Wireless “Our network is continuing and on track – thanks to our heroic teams that are working to hard to keep pushing forward[…] We continue to conduct necessary network activity to both maintain our network and expand network capacity – be that LTE or 5G.”
The spokesperson also confirmed that the carrier is already in the process of firing up T-Mobile’s newly acquired mid-band (2.5GHz), repurposing it from Sprint LTE to T-Mobile 5G. Sprint was recently acquired by T-Mobile.
The crisis has, however, slowed down the work being done by T-Mobile. Carrier CEO Mike Sievert stated that deployment of new equipment could be slowed down due to delays in obtaining local permits required. “The Crisis might affect permitting,” since “Governments and localities are operating at less than capacity.”