T-Mobile to shut Sprint's LTE network by June 30, 2022
It's also shuttering the carrier's CDMA network by January of next year.
T-Mobile has finally confirmed when it will shut down Sprint's LTE network as part of its assimilation of the carrier it acquired in April of last year. It told Light Reading that it will shutter the service by June 30, 2022. Since completing the $26 billion merger, T-Mobile has been busy using Sprint's spectrum to expand the rollout of its 5G network.
But, the transition hasn't been completely smooth. With the deal raising competition concerns, antitrust regulators set out a number of conditions to get it across the line. The goal was to make Dish Network the nation's new fourth carrier. To get it there, T-mobile was ordered to hand over spectrum, the Boost prepaid mobile brand — and the 9 million customers signed up to it — and to act as Dish's network provider for up to seven years.
However, the partnership turned sour when T-Mobile announced that it would shut down Sprint's CDMA network by January 2022, which a majority of those 9 million customers use. Dish put T-Mobile on blast over the decision in a letter to the FCC earlier this year, accusing it of anti-competitive behavior. Just weeks ago, Dish decided to hop from T-Mobile's network onto AT&T's as part of a new 10-year agreement.
