Sprint expands 5G coverage to 16 million people

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Sprint’s 5G coverage has been expanded to reach 5 million more people in 7 cities.

(Image credit: Sprint)

Five million more Sprint customers have access to super-fast 5G, the company announced this week at the Mobile World Congress Los Angeles. This takes the company’s total coverage of 11 million up to 16 million people.

The company hasn’t actually added any more cities to its coverage list, but has expanded coverage in seven of the original nine cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York metropolitan area, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C.

The cities that have seen expanded Sprint 5G coverage areas are New York, LA, D.C. Metro, Phoenix, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. 

Speeding ahead 

Not only is Sprint bringing 5G to 16 million people, but it’s also promising speeds six times faster, compared to LTE connections. The company is using 2.5GHz spectrum for its 5G network, and signals in this spectrum travel much further than the millimeter-wave spectrum that AT&T and Verizon are currently using for their 5G networks.

Could this put Sprint ahead of its rivals with super-fast speeds and an expanded coverage? Potentially as the company currently appears to have the largest 5G coverage area in the US.

"Unlike anything we've seen before” 

Bryan Fries, Sprint's VP of 5G strategy and global services, said that “it's unlike anything we've seen before," adding, "we are proud at Sprint to have the largest 5G footprint in the country ... we're continuing to build, it's a strong start."

Whilst it’s impressive that Sprint’s 5G is covering such an expansive area, and reaching 16 million people so early into the roll out, it must be careful how much it boasts. It is currently gaining approval for its proposed merger with T-Mobile, and the premise of the merger is that Sprint cannot pursue a major 5G roll out on its own.

Fiona Leake
Fiona Leake

Fiona discovered her love for investing and making money from a young age. Since then this interest has grown and now she loves writing about investing and business, and follows the 5G market closely. She is also a technology enthusiast, and so they tend to be her favourite investments.