T-Mobile lights up LTE in the Gulf of Mexico
Neville Ray of T-Mobile
The Un-carrier now has you covered by land, by air and by sea. T-Mobile claimed to announce it’s the first major wireless provider to launch LTE coverage in the Gulf of Mexico, changing the game for offshore businesses and consumers alike.
Working with RigNet, Inc., a global provider of secure, intelligent networking solutions, T-Mobile now covers more than 60,000 square miles of the Gulf – an area larger than the state of Florida (U.S. Census Bureau). This brings far-reaching LTE coverage to the offshore workers, oil and gas platforms, recreational and commercial vessels and critical infrastructure in the area.
“We’re putting an end to the pain that businesses and consumers in the Gulf have felt for years with limited connectivity – and in some cases, none at all,” said Neville Ray, chief technology officer at T-Mobile. “We already cover 99% of Americans with an advanced LTE network, and we cover places no one else does – like the soldiers, families and civilians at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Now, T-Mobile has you covered, even in the Gulf, and of course…we won’t stop!”
This new LTE coverage, which leverages T-Mobile’s 600 MHz and RigNet’s 700 MHz spectrum, provides a significantly enhanced experience for customers using RigNet’s current Gulf of Mexico digital microwave infrastructure. And this isn’t just for smartphones — it enables businesses to connect critical infrastructure with Internet of Things (IoT) technology and monitor remote equipment in real time for increased productivity and safety. All this new coverage means better connectivity for Un-carrier customers.
T-Mobile used 5G-ready equipment to light up LTE in the Gulf, so offshore consumers and businesses will have access to the next generation of wireless technology in the future. 5G promises to bring faster wireless speeds to help move massive amounts of data, lower latency for ultra-responsive networks, decade-long battery life for IoT applications and the ability to support exponentially more connections per cell site.
The Un-carrier has more than tripled its LTE network since 2014 and today covers 99% of Americans – that’s 326 million people. Beyond its new coverage in the Gulf of Mexico, T-Mobile has expanded its LTE network footprint by nearly 190,000 square miles since the beginning of 2018.
T-Mobile continues to aggressively deploy 600 MHz Extended Range LTE to give customers even more coverage and capacity. Extended Range LTE travels twice as far from the tower and is four times better in buildings than mid-band spectrum, so it can provide better coverage in hard to reach places: inside buildings, along interstate highways and in rural areas. The Un-carrier has deployed Extended Range LTE with 600 MHz across 1.2 million square miles of the U.S., meaning customers in nearly 6,600 cities and towns in 46 states and Puerto Rico are already enjoying the coverage and capacity boost.
To know more about T-Mobile’s network, click here.
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