The Year Ahead

Once an Also-Ran Carrier, T-Mobile Begins 2021 With a Lead in 5G

Its $26.5 billion purchase of Sprint last year created a company with a vast spectrum on which to build an advanced network.

A contract crew for Verizon works on a cell tower to update it to handle the new 5G network in Orem, Utah, on Dec. 10, 2019.
Photographer: George Frey/AFP/Getty Images

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By Scott Moritz

January 22, 2021 at 11:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the January 25, 2021 issue of businessweek.

T-Mobile’s turnaround started eight years ago, following a failed takeover by AT&T. It had lost 1.7 million customers the previous year and was a distant fourth among wireless carriers in the U.S., with a network so dinky that Apple Inc. didn’t even bother making a version of the iPhone for it.

Recasting itself as an irreverent, pink-hued underdog, T-Mobile US Inc. has not only caught up with larger rivals, but actually begins 2021 with a significant lead building out a 5G network in the U.S. Last April, T-Mobile purchased Sprint Corp. for $26.5 billion. The deal, which followed multiple unsuccessful attempts at consolidation among carriers in the last decade, created a company with a vast spectrum on which to build its next-generation network.