AT&T has deployed mid-band spectrum acquired from EchoStar to increase 5G download speeds by up to 80% across the country, the carrier announced yesterday.
By deploying the mid-band spectrum to nearly 23,000 cell sites, AT&T has increased capacity and speeds for customers in more than 5,300 cities across the contiguous U.S.
AT&T said that it expects the deployment to support strong and sustained growth in its high-value base of customers who subscribe to both its home internet and 5G wireless services. In addition, AT&T expects to achieve long-term operating efficiencies, as the acquisition of these licenses will reduce the need to boost network capacity through the construction of additional cell sites.
AT&T claimed that it has invested more capital than any other company in U.S. telecommunications infrastructure over the last five years, including adding spectrum, and progress in Open RAN.
“We’ve put EchoStar spectrum to work on our network and customers are already feeling the difference,” AT&T Chief Operating Officer Jeff McElfresh said in a prepared statement about the 5G network enhancements.
“This gives us the runway to expand availability of AT&T Internet Air for consumers and businesses and add even more download speed to our 5G service. We’re setting the bar for what it means to be the best advanced networking company in America.”
In August, AT&T and EchoStar announced two related agreements to expand the wireless spectrum licenses owned by AT&T — allowing them to make the 5G network upgrades announced this week — and deepen the companies’ cooperation in the operation of EchoStar’s Boost Mobile brand.
At the time, AT&T acquired approximately 30 MHz of spectrum in the 3.45 GHz mid-band and approximately 20 MHz nationwide in the 600 MHz low-band for about $23 billion.
