- T-Mobile has been expanding its 5G coverage in rural areas ever since it acquired Sprint in 2020
- Ookla crowned T-Mobile the leader in 5G in both urban and rural areas
- It’s a big deal because carriers usually focus on highly populated areas, which are more profitable
This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been following T-Mobile’s 5G expansion into small towns and rural areas of the U.S., but Ookla made it official this week, crowning T-Mobile the leader for its 5G coverage in rural areas.
According to Ookla, T-Mobile has the largest percentage of 5G users spending the majority of their time on its 5G network in both urban and rural markets, outranking Verizon and AT&T.
Practically since the close of the Sprint acquisition, T-Mobile executives have been tooting their horn about how much they’re growing in smaller markets and rural areas. In fact, T-Mobile committed to certain 5G coverage requirements in order to close the Sprint deal.
Specifically, T-Mobile pledged to deploy 5G service to cover 97% of the American people within three years and to reach 99% of all Americans within six years.
In a statement provided to Fierce, T-Mobile President of Technology Ulf Ewaldsson acknowledged that improving wireless service in rural America was one of the primary reasons for the merger with Sprint. T-Mobile started its 5G journey with low-band 600 MHz spectrum but bumped it up big time when it acquired Sprint’s treasure trove of mid-band 2.5 GHz spectrum.
“The results speak for themselves,” Ewaldsson said. “T-Mobile brought home broadband competition that was desperately needed to millions of homes that had few options for high-speed services. And as the Ookla results show, the T-Mobile 5G network is the best option for mobile customers as well.”
But there’s more to come. “This is just the beginning. T-Mobile remains the only major carrier with a nationwide 5G standalone network while our competitors have only deployed in a handful of cities. With its core network, 5G SA is true 5G and paves the way for new services that will be critical for 5G Advanced and 6G. So the fact we’re leading in rural areas on both availability and 5G SA deployments at this stage is a good sign for our future prospects," Ewaldsson said.
T-Mobile “leveled up” with Verizon
Indeed, Chetan Sharma, president of Chetan Sharma consulting, said T-Mobile’s low and mid-band coverage has vastly improved coverage in rural areas during the 5G cycle.
“Users’ perceptions take a long time to change, but T-Mobile seems to have leveled up with Verizon when it comes to network quality, and it is likely to surpass it due to the Starlink announcement as the coverage holes in the network can become a thing of the past,” Sharma told Fierce.
Of course, the “best coverage” experience depends on where people live, work and play. Not everybody is going to be in areas where T-Mobile has built out 5G coverage. Ookla looked at which states have the lowest available 5G coverage and found that Wyoming earns the distinction as the state with the lowest 5G availability for all three operators.
Based on Ookla’s data, T-Mobile made the most inroads when it comes to Wyoming customers having access to its 5G network, with 59% of users on 5G, followed by AT&T with 29.73% and Verizon at the back of the pack, with a measly 9.8% of users on 5G in the state.
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