T-Mobile Gets FCC Go-Ahead For First 5G Devices

The Federal Communications Commission authorized the first LTE-U device in the 5-GHz band on Wednesday, and T-Mobile Us Inc TMUS was poised to capitalize.

The wireless company immediately announced implementation of its equipment, which was developed by partners Nokia Corp (ADR) NOK and Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson ERIC and had been tested since December.

.@TMobile will break MORE barriers this Spring & roll out LTE-U for even faster speeds! Great job @NevilleRay & team!https://t.co/20GA65yMY4

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) February 22, 2017

LTE-U will provide the capacity to “tap into the first 20 MHz of underutilized unlicensed spectrum on the 5GHz band and use it for additional LTE capacity,” according to a T-Mobile press release.

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It will not disrupt LTE and Wi-Fi users on the same 5-GHz band. In fact, it was approved by the Wi-Fi Alliance, a group of LTE-U and Wi-Fi stakeholders who developed guidelines in the fall to prevent harmful interferences among devices.

The FCC approval laid the groundwork to introduce improved speeds this spring and T-Mobile's Gigabit LTE in the near future.