T-Mobile US has signed a new partnership with Nokia and Ericsson with five-year 5G network deals.
Ericsson said it will expand and enhance T-Mobile’s 5G footprint by supplying equipment, software, and related services from its Ericsson Radio System portfolio.

The November 2020 edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report estimates that North America was expected to end 2020 with about four percent of its mobile subscriptions being 5G. Commercialization is now moving at a rapid pace and by 2026, Ericsson forecasts that 80 percent of North American mobile subscriptions will be 5G, the highest level of any region in the world.

Neville Ray, president of Technology, T-Mobile, said: “We have already taken a massive step forward with nationwide standalone 5G earlier this year, and this agreement with Nokia will help us to deliver incredible innovation and opportunity in this country.”

T-Mobile will utilize Nokia’s AirScale Radio platform to deploy an Ultra Capacity 5G layer with 2.5GHz Massive MIMO technology.

Nokia will to expand T-Mobile’s 5G coverage using low-band spectrum. Both the extended range and Ultra Capacity enhancements will augment user experience and network capacity by leveraging T-Mobile’s multi-layer spectrum strategy.

Nokia will supply its AirScale radio access solutions – including macro and small cells across low, mid-band and mmWave spectrum. Massive MIMO will allow T-Mobile’s 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum to be utilized to its full potential.

Nokia will also enable T-Mobile to upgrade its mid-band LTE network to 5G and continue to expand their extended range (low-band) 5G network.