T-Mobile wants to replace your home internet with 5G
The wireless carrier thinks it has what it takes to be the fourth-largest internet provider.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere at an event.
T-Mobile can provide your phone with service, and now it's looking to bring internet to your home.
T-Mobile previously said that it's looking to become the fourth-biggest internet service provider (ISP) if its merger with Sprint goes through. Now we're getting details about how big T-Mobile's goals really are, thanks to its conversations with the FCC (via FierceWireless).
The New T-Mobile (that's T-Mobile plus Sprint) predicts it will gain 1.9 million in-home wireless broadband customers by 2021 and 9.5 million customers by 2024. That would indeed make it the fourth-biggest ISP, behind competitors like Comcast and Charter.
In terms of coverage, T-Mobile predicts that it will be able to offer in-home internet service to 52 percent of all zip codes in the US by 2024. That's 64 percent of Charter's territory and 68 percent of Comcast's territory.
And T-Mobile thinks its internet will be fast too. It predicts that the average T-Mobile customer will have download speeds of 100 Mbps. By 2024, T-Mobile says it'll be able to provide internet speeds greater than 200 Mbps to 250 million people, and speeds greater than 500 Mbps to 200 million people. (If you want some context, you can check your current internet speed here).
T-Mobile says it'll be able to reach these speeds and coverage thanks to its planned 5G mobile network. 5G is the next generation of 4G/LTE wireless data, and T-Mobile plans to use 5G to provide internet through in-home broadband and wireless data.
This could give other ISP's like AT&T , Charter and Comcast some serious competition. That is, if the T-Mobile/Sprint merger goes through.
T-Mobile didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.