T-Mobile today said it has brought its 5G Home fixed wireless access (FWA) service to five more states and passing 5 million more homes, bringing its total available homes to more than 40 million nationwide. The newest coverage areas include towns and cities across Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.
Today, the carrier is touting 5G Home as a solution to the close the digital divide.
The company said there are more than 1.1 million households in these five states that still do not have access to home broadband.
T-Mobile cited these statistics:
- According to a recent study from the Greater Des Moines Partnership, 40% of Central Iowa homes report download speeds of less than 25 Mbps, which does not meet the FCC’s definition of high-speed broadband.
- In Oklahoma, it’s estimated that one in every four students doesn’t have high-speed internet access at home, as roughly 90% of Oklahoma’s school districts are located partly or entirely in rural areas, according to the Oklahoman in 2021.
- And in the urban core of Kansas City, Missouri, officials have launched a program for high school students to install internet in buildings across the city to bring basic, affordable connectivity to the city’s residents.
Mike Katz, chief marketing officer at T-Mobile, said in a statement today, “At T-Mobile, we’re all about disrupting broken industries. And the broadband industry is big-time broken. Millions across this country are being left behind, unable to participate in the digital economy and in virtual learning, all because they don’t have access to high-speed internet.”
He added that T-Mobile is “doing real work to bridge the digital divide.”
T-Mobile says that of the 40 million households where it now offers 5G Home, about a third are in rural America. Of course, the carrier has made some pledges to cover rural America as part of its agreement with the Department of Justice's Consent Decree to approve the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint.