- T-Mobile is looking past vanilla standalone to the launch of new 5G Advanced services
- Chief Network Officer Ankur Kapoor told Fierce uplink advancements are on the agenda
- All told it is planning to launch “at least half a dozen” new 5G Advanced features in 2026
What’s ahead for T-Mobile in 2026? Well, more new 5G-Advanced services for one. T-Mobile Chief Network Officer Ankur Kapoor told Fierce that T-Mobile is planning to launch “at least half a dozen” 5G-Advanced features in the new year.
Kapoor noted the operator's 5G-Advanced wheels are already in motion. "We have recently launched three uplink transmitters on select devices. This configuration enhances the uplink link budget and overall uplink performance," he said. T-Mobile operates multiple 5G radio bands with the 600 MHz, 2.5 GHz, as well as the AWS and PCS frequencies presently in use.
The operator has also launched 5G-Advanced Uplink Tx Switching to support smartphones. This will enable the iPhone 17, Samsung GS25 Ultra, Samsung Fold 7, Motorola Edge 2025 and Motorola RAZR Ultra to intelligently switch Tx antennas between different frequency bands to maximize uplink throughput for UL Carrier Aggregation. This will improve upload speeds on compatible phones when gaming, live streaming or uploading large files. “That, globally, only T-Mobile has it right now,” Kapoor stated.
Kapoor said more generally of uplink: “I think it’s one of most under-talked topics of the industry.” Why? Well, because it will also impact the 5G watches, from Apple and others, that are now arriving on the marketplace that use RedCap functionality.
He pointed out that kids these days get smartwatches before they even get phones and argued that 5G smartwatches could help parents to monitor a kid’s location. “Being able to communicate with their kids, being able to get their locations...that gets to personal safety,” Kapoor said.
T-Mobile’s CTO John Saw also went deep on RedCap in his new T-Mobile blog. Beyond the smartwatches, RedCap will also power asset trackers, industrial monitors and smart home systems, Saw said.
Building blocks
T-Mobile first launched 5G standalone (5G SA) network in August 2020, marking the first nationwide 5G SA launch in the world. It followed up with the addition of new spectrum for its standalone network in November 2022. Using its standalone capabilities, the operator has already rolled out 5G voice (VoNR), network slicing and Reduced Capability (RedCap) 5G IoT services, all of which require 5G SA to be in place before such services can be launched.
AT&T and Verizon are just starting to launch 5G SA services, having launched nationwide 5G SA cores in the fall of 2025. Before that, AT&T and Verizon were previously running their 5G radio networks on a 4G core, or control plane, which managed things such as setting up calls on the network.
However, T-Mobile has moved beyond vanilla standalone 5G with the rollout of nationwide 5G-Advanced services on its network. The Magenta operator launched its first 5G-Advanced L4S video upgrade in July 2025.
It followed that with the 5G-Advanced Edge Control service in October this year. This enables a private network-like service on T-Mobile’s public 5G network using local breakouts. This is this is like many of the 5G public-private systems are that used all over China.
On the horizon
Kapooor said additional 5G Advanced upgrades will include more widespread 3-way Tx switching in 2026, presumably for more devices as software updates become available.
The operator also plans to launch dynamic network slicing early in 2026. This will enable T-Mobile customers to create end-to-end slices on the T-Mobile network, “with just a credit card,” the network chief said.