T-Mobile US launched a robust defence of a recent $8 billion outlay on 600MHz spectrum while detailing ambitions to launch the country’s first true nationwide 5G network.

Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s CTO (pictured), issued a scathing assessment of recent 5G announcements by AT&T and Verizon Wireless, effectively accusing the duo of lying to themselves and their customers regarding their deployment plans for the next-generation technology.

The operator plans to use 600MHz spectrum it acquired in a recent incentive auction to beef up its LTE services and then to deploy 5G: “This means T-Mobile is the first company to commit to building a nationwide 5G network. And yes, that’s real 5G, not fake 5G! And that’s nationwide mobile 5G, not fixed 5G,” Neville proclaimed in a blog post.

“In addition to the 600MHz band, we have 200MHz of spectrum in the 28/39GHz bands covering nearly 100 million people in major metropolitan areas and an impressive volume of mid-band spectrum to deploy 5G in as well,” Ray continued.

The holdings mean T-Mobile can deliver “a 5G network that offers both breadth and depth nationwide.”

Blasted rivals
Ray issued the statement a matter of days after Nicola Palmer, chief network officer at Verizon Wireless, said T-Mobile bid big in the incentive auction because it “desperately” needed the 600MHz spectrum to “finally acquire a national low-band spectrum position.”

The T-Mobile CTO countered that Verizon’s 5G plans centre on fixed networks rather than mobile, to enable its rival to “compete with the only companies people hate more than Verizon – Big Cable!”

Ray also slammed AT&T’s recent announcement of a 5G Evolution plan as “fake 5G”, accusing the operator of attempting to “confuse consumers” by using technologies T-Mobile launched in 2016.

AT&T last week detailed plans to use LTE to offer consumers in 20 major US cities a taste of what 5G will eventually offer, once standards for the next generation technology are finalised.

Work by the 3GPP towards the goal are scheduled to be completed by March 2018, with a view to enabling operators to begin deploying commercial 5G networks in 2020.

Ray said T-Mobile is targeting 2020 “for a full nationwide rollout” of its 5G network, which will be deployed on “clean spectrum”, which is not refarmed.