T-Mobile hits big 5G home internet goal with time to spare in 2021
While T-Mobile has largely made headlines with mobile 5G achievements, breakthroughs, and records this year, as well as a bunch of negative stuff like data breaches, wireless network outages, and declining customer support, the "Un-carrier's" home broadband service seems worthy of a little (positive) attention too.
Based on 5G technology (what else?), this offers advertised average download speeds of over 100Mbps and "typical" rates of between 35 and 115Mbps at a low monthly cost of $50, 5G Wi-Fi Gateway device included.
That's an incredibly appealing value proposition in a crowded but somehow not intensely competitive market, so it's hardly surprising to hear that Magenta has not only reached but exceeded its subscriber target for 2021 before the actual end of the year.
Of course, the 500,000 goal itself may not sound like much, but if you consider the relatively limited availability and especially the very young age of T-Mo's 5G home internet product, you'll probably find that's no small feat.
Barely launched to the public (in non-beta form) back in April at an initial monthly rate of $60, the blazing fast "fee-free" service technically covers more than 30 million households across 600 or so cities and towns. Although pretty big compared to the population of many European countries, for instance, that number is nothing next to the nationwide availability of T-Mobile's (significantly slower) low-band 5G mobile network.
Bottom line, hitting and surpassing 500K customers less than a year in is definitely a promising result, and naturally, there's no way to go but up now. Specifically, up to anywhere between 7 and 8 million subscribers by 2025, and that's according to a "conservative" prediction from CEO Mike Sievert.
Sievert expects 2022 to already be a much bigger year for his company's 5G home internet product, which is "totally funded by the mobile business" and maturing fast despite still being in the testing and learning phase from a number of different standpoints.
The sky may not be the limit for Magenta's diversification and expansion of 5G-related revenue opportunities, but the broadband industry is not it either, leaving the door open for ambitious newcomers that know exactly what people want - speed, affordability, and convenience.
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