Mobile carrier T-Mobile is psyched to launch new services over the AWS spectrum it acquired as the top bidder in the recent FCC auctions, so psyched that the Deutsche Telekom-backed company started upgrading its NYC network to next-generation technology even before it acquired the new broadband wireless spectrum. The company announced yesterday that it plans to spend $2.7 billion on upgrades nationwide — that’s on top of the $4.2 billion check it’s sending to the U.S. Treasury for the airwave purchases.
Customers should start seeing new services available through T-Mobile in mid-2007. One of those new services is an integrated landline-Wi-Fi voice phone. Known as UMA, or unlicensed mobile access, the new phone will be able to hand off calls from a traditional cell phone network to a Wi-Fi router and vice versa, allowing customers to cut down on the cost of mobile calling by enabling them to switch to VoIP providers when the handset is in reach of a router.
This ability to integrate cell phone and VoIP services is a huge leap forward in the marketplace, for both T-Mobile and VoIP services. The fast-track ability to offer not only voice-over-Wi-Fi but also an array of new mobile video services has emboldened T-Mobile to up its subscriber forecasts. The company now predicts it will grow from 23.3 million customers today to 35 million to 40 million by 2015, compared to its earlier prediction that it will serve 30 million customers by 2015.
Cynthia Brumfield at 10:59 AM|Comments(0)
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