T-Mobile said it switched on standalone 5G technology with vendors Cisco and Nokia across its nationwide 5G network, and company officials touted a wide range of current and future benefits of the technology.
As noted by the company's release and executives' comments, T-Mobile said standalone 5G:
Has supported latency improvements up to 40% in during testing.
Will immediately increase its 5G footprint by 30%, or roughly 1.3 million square miles, as well as its indoor coverage. That's because standalone 5G will allow T-Mobile to transmit signals only in its 600MHz spectrum without an "anchor" transmission in its LTE spectrum, which in some cases doesn't reach as far. Unlike the non-standalone version of 5G that is currently used by virtually all of the world's 5G providers, standalone 5G does not require an anchoring 4G LTE signal.
Can work on some of T-Mobile's existing phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S20 and the OnePlus 8 5G, with a software upgrade.
Can speed up user upload speeds, given that some non-standalone 5G connections used 4G for uploading.
Could increase user downloads by 20-30%, due to the higher spectral efficiency of 5G compared with 4G.
Likely will improve 5G phones' battery life, considering standalone 5G connections do not require phones to simultaneously use their LTE and 5G radios like non-standalone connections do.
Can eventually support services like self-driving vehicles and real-time translation offerings via network slicing.
T-Mobile sought to drum up interest in a highly technical networking announcement with a drone light show in Lisbon, North Dakota. The event highlighted T-Mobile's 5G coverage in rural areas, as well as the capabilities of its 5G offering.
The operator's launch of standalone 5G is noteworthy considering the 3GPP – the global technology standards association charged with developing 5G – released the final specifications for standalone 5G just last month.
T-Mobile of course isn't alone in moving from the non-standalone version of 5G to the standalone version. For example, Verizon said it will begin moving its 5G traffic to a standalone core later this year, while other operators across the world are making similar moves.
— Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano
You May Also Like
