"[5G technology] stands to improve the lives of everyone, from farmers who will be able to remotely monitor crops, to city dwellers who will benefit from the interconnected infrastructure of smart cities." —Michael Dunn, Cell Nation

A wireless revolution is coming. Next-generation 5G wireless networks will deliver higher speeds, lower lag time, and an incredible increase in capacity. Not only will these new 5G networks power advancements in fields like artificial intelligence and streaming video, but they will also fuel a revolution in other connected devices.

This stands to improve the lives of everyone, from farmers who will be able to remotely monitor crops, to city dwellers who will benefit from the interconnected infrastructure of smart cities. 

To fulfill the potential of this technology, customers will need access to a competitive 5G network that doesn’t leave some people behind.

To make this 5G future a reality, carriers will have to make an unprecedented investment in our nation’s wireless infrastructure. Right now, only the largest carriers, AT&T and Verizon, currently have the resources to make this incredible investment. Sprint and T-Mobile, on their own, lack the resources to create a strong and competitive third national 5G network. Together, however, the New T-Mobile will have the resources to build a 5G network that will not only compete with AT&T and Verizon’s, but also force the big two to compete back.

I can’t think of a better company than T-Mobile to take up this challenge. My company, Cell Nation, has worked with T-Mobile, through its subsidiary MetroPCS, since 2008. When T-Mobile merged with MetroPCS in 2012, it made sure that prepaid customers would not be left behind as they rolled out its advanced 4G LTE network. In that time, T-Mobile grew MetroPCS from a smaller regional player into a national brand powering more than 15 million devices, many in rural areas far beyond the cities that MetroPCS was once limited to. “Metro” doesn’t really do it justice. 

As T-Mobile took the MetroPCS brand national with access to a nationwide 4G LTE network, my company grew to more than 250 independent stores that sell MetroPCS devices in 9 markets across the country. They retained the leadership and the expertise of MetroPCS, meaning that they understand the dynamics of the prepaid market and the customers I serve. They also pushed MetroPCS to disrupt the prepaid market, and while it is no longer business as usual, they’ve continued to connect with prepaid customers through creative advertising, and have retained the local feel of the brand. 

T-Mobile has put 4G devices in the hands of millions of customers, fueling innovations by companies like Google, Salesforce, and Uber, and it can do the same with the 5G technology of tomorrow. If customers were left behind from this revolution, as might have happened to prepaid customers in a less competitive market, then these innovations may not have been possible.  

I have no doubt that the New T-Mobile will make sure that prepaid customers are included in the 5G revolution. With nearly $40 billion of network and business investment for 5G planned for the first three years, MetroPCS customers will have access to a stronger 5G network earlier, and the market for 5G prepaid services will start out with a fierce competitor with the combined resources of two mavericks. 

With the New T-Mobile, we can look forward to providing our customers access to advanced 5G devices on terms and at prices that they can afford, and on a strong nationwide network that can compete with the biggest out there.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – As the number of connected devices in the home expands, the threat of consumers cutting their broadband cord increases, but operators are not powerless in the battle to grow and retain customers, according to a session at the NCTC Winter Educational Conference here Tuesday (Feb. 13).

Parks Associates senior director of research Brett Sappington said that connected devices in the home have increased from just over eight in 2015 to 9.2 in 2017, and consumers are demanding higher and higher bandwidth to accommodate that equipment. At the same time, he said that about 12% of U.S. households are mobile-only.

Read More: Additional Coverage of the NCTC Winter Educational Conference

Sappington said the consumers most likely to go mobile-only aren’t surprising – they are mainly younger people who have been in their homes a short period of time. Price sensitivity is also an issue. Customers of the least expensive wireless services like Metro PCS and T-Mobile are more likely to go mobile-only (about 12% of Metro PCS and 11% of T-Mobile wireless customers say they would go mobile only, compared with 7% for AT&T and 5% for Verizon wireless customers).

As unlimited wireless plans and zero-rating for video continue to proliferate, so does the drive to go all mobile. But fixed service has speed, throughput and latency advantages over wireless, according to Sappington.

He added that loyalty for existing broadband subscribers is pretty high – about 50% of consumers that have both a fixed and mobile service say they will absolutely not switch, according to Parks Associates research.

Cable operators can continue to battle the mobile-only threat by doing what they have been doing in the past – partnering with wireless service providers, bundling services, providing access to OTT options and offering premium WiFi options.

“Bundling still works,” Sappington said, adding that operators have to “learn to live with mobile services, and how we can evolve or strategies to include the reality of mobile data in our packages.”