Report: T-Mobile to Announce UMTS

T-Mobile may announce its plans to transition to UMTS as early as Friday, according to press reports. The nation's fourth biggest wireless carrier was the big winner in the recent FCC wireless frequency auction, and it is believed that much of the frequency gains would be used for its 3G plans.

According to analysts, T-Mobile's UMTS would operate on the 1700 and 2100 MHz bands, much like CIngular's offering. These frequencies are different than those used in Europe for UMTS - meaning the phones would only work in the US until dual-mode handsets are produced.

Expected to attend the announcement are both T-Mobile USA executives as well as those from Deustche Telekom, the carrier's parent company, eWeek says. While sources say news about T-Mobile USA's 3G plans is imminent, pundits are not certain it would be on Friday.

Possibly furthering those analysts' claims is the fact that T-Mobile USA has not confirmed that there would be a press conference for that day. Either way, implementing UMTS across T-Mobile's nationwide network would likely not be completed until 2008, at the earliest.

Currently, T-Mobile's network is only equipped to handle EDGE data, which offers data speeds equivalent to a dialup connection at 56k with bursts of higher speeds.

Compare this with Verizon and Sprint, who can offer 400-700kbps speeds with bursts much higher thanks to EV-DO, and Cingular, which can offer similar speeds through its recently launched UMTS network. The result is that T-Mobile has been shut out from the lucrative corporate cellular sales segment.

T-Mobile USA is not permitted to comment on the content of the story due to a mandatory "quiet period" following the FCC auction.