T-Mobile US expanded a partnership with Lumen Technologies to serve domestic government agencies, as the operator explores ways to grow its fixed wireless access (FWA) business and build its edge compute capabilities.

The companies stated government entities will be able to use T-Mobile’s 5G network in combination with Lumen’s edge computing platform to bring connectivity to field locations.

David Young, SVP of Lumen’s public sector and global hyperscaler business, said it offers “hundreds of thousands” of miles of fibre “connected to various edge and cloud computing hubs”.

T-Mobile explained it will target other public sector entities in addition to federal agencies. It is pursuing the public safety market with its Connecting Heroes programme, which it recently upgraded with prioritisation of calls and text messages.

The Lumen deal gives T-Mobile a way to participate in the General Services Administration (GSA) Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract: Lumen is one of nine vendors selected to provide IT and telecom services to the government under the $50 billion, 15-year agreement.

T-Mobile’s largest competitors Verizon and AT&T are also EIS vendors.

Unlike Verizon and AT&T, T-Mobile has not aggressively promoted its own edge compute solution. In April, it detailed a partnership with Lumen for the sector.