T-Mobile Talks iPhones, LTE, and Windows Phones

Barcelona—The mood at T-Mobile USA is more positive than it's been in a year. Released from the shadow of an AT&T merger and about to deploy a $4 billion network improvement project that could make its 3G network compatible with the iPhone, "there's a lot of excitement" at the number-four carrier's Seattle-area HQ, the company's CTO Neville Ray said.

"We're excited about support and investment coming to the U.S. from [parent company] DT, and it's a big program," he said.

DT is committed to investing in T-Mobile rather than trying to flog it off again, Ray said.

"I think the $4 billion is the indication of that. That is clearly a large and material investment, and a strong indication of commitment from DT to the U.S. business," he said.

But the carrier's fortunes have drifted a bit while the AT&T merger was going on, T-Mobile SVP Andrew Sherrard admitted. One of the big tasks T-Mobile has for 2012 will be to regain T-Mobile's reputation for customer service, he said. He said the company will make it easier to get a human on the phone for support, and will give reps more flexibility.

"We're changing our IVR [customer service system] and we're changing our policies. We'll make it easier for consumers to get things," he said.

iPhones, Windows Phones, and Ice Cream Sandwich
With new spectrum coming from the AT&T 'breakup fee' and so many of T-Mobile's existing customers on 3G, the company can start shifting some of its existing 1900MHz spectrum from 2G to 3G service. That means iPhones will finally be able to work on T-Mobile's 3G network.

"From a technology perspective, it would be compatible," Sherrard said. "We'd love to have it."

The first 1900MHz 3G cities could launch by the end of the year, Ray said.

In the meantime, you're going to see both more Windows Phones and more Android phones from T-Mobile. At the show this week the company announced the  and was showing off the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G (photo above), a smaller and less expensive version of Samsung's dual-core  phone that runs on T-Mobile's HSPA+ 42 network. We didn't see any new Windows Phones for T-Mobile, but they're coming, Sherrard said.

"Windows Phone is a strategic bet for us," Sherrard said.

Windows Phone 8, codenamed "Apollo," will create synergies with Windows 8 that will be compelling for smartphone buyers, Sherrard said.

"What's cool about Apollo is the commonality of interface. It's the same look and feel across the PC, phone and tablet."

T-Mobile is also working on speeding up Android phone upgrades, Sherrard said.

"We owe people specifics on our Ice Cream Sandwich updates," he admitted. "We're committed to doing it faster, and we need to streamline that process."

T-Mobile's New Networks
T-Mobile currently runs HSPA+ 42 on the AWS band and 2G GSM on the 1900MHz band. The company's goal by 2013 is to get LTE into the AWS band, split HSPA+ 42 between AWS and 1900MHz and run less and less 2G GSM with time.

The company has 30 or 40MHz of 1900MHz spectrum across much of the country, Ray said, and since most of the phones T-Mobile sells are 3G, it's under-used. At least 10MHz of that can be cleaned up and moved over to 3G in many places already.

"In many markets we have spectrum that can be repurposed with no impact," Ray said.

In the future, T-Mobile's network bands will be aligned with AT&T's, meaning more AT&T-compatible phones will also work on T-Mobile. That goes for LTE phones, too, as both carriers will use 1700MHz AWS spectrum for LTE, Ray said.

As T-Mobile goes around switching the modems on its 37,000 cell sites, it'll be adding LTE equipment, too. Since T-Mobile already solved the LTE backhaul problem when it installed high-speed Internet connections at its base stations to support HSPA+ 42, it'll be unusually quick to bring up LTE, Ray said.

That means moving away from T-Mobile's earlier strategy to go to HSPA+ 84, at least for a while.

"We'll be pushing less hard on 84 because we want to get LTE into our base and into the customers' hands. I don't believe 84 will go away … it's just when it will happen. We were driving that hard without an LTE path, and we need to drive it less hard with an LTE path," Ray said.

T-Mobile is also keeping its network open to MVNOs, virtual carriers such as Simple Mobile.

"We have a big national network and we need to get more customers onto it, so MVNOs are clearly an opportunity area," Ray said.

One thing you probably won't see any time soon, alas, is higher data caps. LTE will help increase capacity per user, but that's swiftly being taken up by new data services—and we're talking about users still going from zero to data, not heavy users becoming even heavier users.

"Spectrum and a lot of services are scarce assets," Ray said. "I think you see models emerging in the U.S. around tiered pricing, which I think folks understand."

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