T-Mobile in the United States

The figures on this page come from the FCC’s 2024 Communications Marketplace Report and its licence orders, from T-Mobile’s releases and support pages, and from Deutsche Telekom, each with its date.

When T-Mobile switched on 4G and 5G

T-Mobile turned on 4G LTE on 26 March 2013 in seven metropolitan areas: Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Jose and Washington, D.C. Its 5G began on 28 June 2019 in parts of six city centres, Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York, on millimetre-wave spectrum and with the Galaxy S10 5G. On 2 December 2019 it added 5G on 600 MHz, which by its own count covered more than 200 million people in over 5,000 cities and towns.

The spectrum behind it

FCC staff estimates for June 2024 give T-Mobile a population-weighted average of about 375.6 MHz in the bands the Commission screens. About 175 MHz of that is in the 2.5 GHz band, the BRS and EBS licences, and 30.4 MHz is at 600 MHz. The same report says AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon together held about 82% of the screened spectrum at that date.

T-Mobile’s share of lines

The FCC report adds up the postpaid and prepaid connections that the publicly traded networks declare. T-Mobile had 102.1 million at the end of 2020 and 119.7 million at the end of 2023, an estimated 31.9% of the market. Its own results for the fourth quarter of 2025, filed on 11 February 2026, give 142.4 million customers.

Who owns T-Mobile

The merger with Sprint closed on 1 April 2020. T-Mobile US, Inc. became the parent of the combined company, and the business kept the T-Mobile name. Deutsche Telekom held 52.8% of T-Mobile US’s capital in February 2026 and said it planned to sell no shares that year. On 1 August 2025 T-Mobile closed its purchase of UScellular’s wireless operations, which brought in more than four million UScellular customers.

Away from the towers

FCC data for 31 December 2023 show the gap between people and land. At 7/1 Mbps, T-Mobile’s 5G-NR covered about 92% of the population but 59% of road miles and about 30% of the land area. On 26 November 2024 the FCC’s Space Bureau allowed SpaceX to serve phones from its Starlink satellites on T-Mobile’s PCS G Block, 1910 to 1915 MHz and 1990 to 1995 MHz, under a lease with T-Mobile USA, Inc. T-Satellite opened to all on 23 July 2025, customers of other networks included. T-Mobile’s terms limit it to compatible phones outdoors with a view of the sky, and say the service, text to 911 included, may be delayed, limited or unavailable.

eSIM on T-Mobile lines

T-Mobile’s support pages call its eSIM a SIM card gone digital, downloaded over Wi-Fi to connect to its network in minutes. A new prepaid account starts in the T-Mobile Prepaid eSIM app. Before an eSIM moves to a new phone, T-Mobile asks customers to turn off SIM Protection, or the transfer ends in an error.

Install the eSIMSwitch it on after landingNo connection