T-Mobile USA today took to its company blog to provide a progress report on its network modernization efforts.
To start, T-Mobile says it has all the networking agreements in place and the necessary zoning required to improve the bilk of its 37,000 cell sites around the country. By the end of June, 400 of T-Mobile’s GSM/HSPA+ sites will have upgraded networking equipment and that number will swell to more than 2,500 sites by the end of July.
T-Mobile is also testing HSPA+ service on its 1900MHz spectrum in several test locations. T-Mobile says that some customers will see HSPA+ service become available from time to time on unlocked iPhones, for example, as it continues to test this networking switch.
T-Mobile expects to launch HSPA+ 4G service on its iPhone-compatible 1900MHz spectrum in “a large number of markets” later this year. Last, T-Mobile said that it has already begin trials of its forthcoming LTE network (using 3GPP Release-10 gear), which is still on track for launch in 2013.
