National provider of mobile communications services, T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS) , has confirmed the deployment of the Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) network nationwide by 2018. Also, it is willing to deploy the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) Cat-M network by the same year.
Furthermore, the company is the first wireless provider in North America to have conducted successful tests of the NB-IoT technology live on its commercial network. In this regard, it should be noted that the field tests were conducted in partnership with Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) across multiple sites on T-Mobile’s live commercial LTE network in Las Vegas using 200 KHz of T-Mobile’s AWS spectrum.
Meanwhile, T-Mobile US has already started deploying 600-MHz low-band spectrum on its 4G LTE network (from mid-August), which is likely to boost the company’s IoT efforts. Also, the company claims to be the world’s first to launch 4G in 600-MHz band and its first deployment site is Cheyenne, WY.
The IoT Battleground
The IoT market is the latest in the line of service and business models, and is rapidly gaining market traction. Using IoT to gather data points enable businesses to operate effectively and efficiently, thus boosting the bottom line.
In March 2017, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) launched the first nationwide commercial 4G LTE Category M1 network to offer IoT services across its entire LTE network. Currently, the company is also pursuing NB-IoT more cautiously with plans to launch the technology in the near future.
Markedly, AT&T (NYSE:T) too launched its LTE-M (LTE for M2M) IoT network and has plans to cover Mexico by the end of the year. Moreover, the company continues to evaluate NB-IoT technology for its IoT suite but is yet to find a compelling reason to deploy the technology.
Going forward, the U.S. national wireless carrier, Sprint, has plans to begin deploying LTE Cat M in mid-2018 followed by LTE Cat NB1 (NB-IoT) as well. Both Cat-1 and Cat NB1 are part of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project standards process.
Price Performance & Zacks Rank
Shares of T-Mobile UShave declined 1.5% in the last three months, as against the industry’s growth of 5.4%. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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