• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Spain lifted the World Cup, but the IRS still gets a cut of its $50 million pay day as players, coaches and refs all face complex U.S. “jock taxes”

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Spain lifted the World Cup, but the IRS still gets a cut of its $50 million pay day as players, coaches and refs all face complex U.S. “jock taxes”

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
TechT-Mobile

Why T-Mobile Promises Not to Raise Prices for Faster 5G Mobile Service

By
Aaron Pressman
Aaron Pressman
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Aaron Pressman
Aaron Pressman
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 7, 2019, 1:06 PM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Customers of T-Mobile who upgrade to faster 5G-compatible phones coming in the second half of the year won’t have to pay any more for faster 5G mobile service on unlimited data plans.

Wall Street has been puzzling over how mobile carriers plan to justify the billions of dollars carriers like T-Mobile and rivals AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), and Sprint are spending to roll out the speedier connections that could make download speeds 10 to 40 times faster than today’s 4G LTE networks. For the carriers, providing the bandwidth should be cheaper with 5G, but some analysts expect the companies also to introduce premium pricing plans.

That won’t be the case at T-Mobile, says president Mike Sievert. “We don’t have any expectation of changing your plan,” Sievert tells Fortune. “5G’s arriving now, speeds and capacities will improve, and customers will be able to get all that at an incredible value. We have no plans to change our rate plans…we have no plans to price separately for it on your smartphone.”

But T-Mobile expects to make more money with additional 5G services, like home broadband, and from people upgrading to an unlimited plans from cheaper plans currently, he added.

T-Mobile’s pricing is under scrutiny as both federal and state regulators continue to evaluate its proposed merger with Sprint, first announced in April. Earlier this week, CEO John Legere sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission chair Ajit Pai pledging not to raise prices for three years on any of its current mobile plans if the merger is approved.

Critics said perhaps T-Mobile’s pledge was leaving wiggle room for higher-priced, new 5G plans. Legere said emphatically on Thursday that was not the case. “We’ve been very clear that in this transaction, supply will go up and prices will decline,” Legere tells Fortune. “If you were concerned that prices were going to go up in the first three years, let me just tell you, no, they’re not. People jumped on [5G] and said that’s a loophole, it’s a trick. We just said no.”

T-Mobile currently offers a standard unlimited plan starting at $70 a month for one line and up to $140 for four lines, which includes a free Netflix (NFLX) account. Adding a package of premium features like high-definition streaming video, fast data for a tethered laptop, and high-speed data usage outside of the United States costs an extra $15 monthly per line. The carrier also offers a striped down “essentials” unlimited plan starting at $60 per month with fewer features and no free Netflix.

T-Mobile (TMUS) is preparing to offer mobile 5G service in major cities later this year and nationwide in 2020. The goal is the same whether or not regulators approve the carrier’s deal to merge with Sprint (S), a combination that would greatly increase the amount of airwave spectrum available for future 5G offerings. “We’re moving at real pace,” says T-Mobile chief technology officer Neville Ray, who adds that T-Mobile has already deployed but not yet brought into service 5G equipment covering “hundreds of thousands of square miles.”

While rivals AT&T, Sprint and Verizon have named some specific cities where they are bringing at least some form of partial 5G services initially, T-Mobile isn’t ready to reveal much about its exact plans yet. Last year, T-Mobile said it was building mobile 5G service in 30 cities including New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Las Vegas. Ray says his competitors’ announcements so far don’t amount to much, especially since they rely mainly on high-bandwidth airwaves like 28 GHz. “We have the same gear, the same software–it’s just not ready for commercial or prime time services yet,” he says.

Some Democrats in Congress have recently expressed concerns about the Sprint merger and will hold hearings in the House of Representatives next week. But Legere said he remains optimistic of approval in the first half of 2019.

“It’s clearly the bottom of the ninth inning,” the CEO says. “I am highly, highly confident that we will have approval of this transaction and it will be the first half.”

As the approval process nears the final verdict, Legere said he expects critics to ramp up. “What happens in the bottom of the ninth inning when multiple parties are concerned about the score? It’s going to be a nutty environment,” he says. “We’re not going to take the bait. We’re going to continue to stay focused.”

About the Author
By Aaron Pressman
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Tech

European travel platform Omio raises $10 million and buys Rail Europe as it chases Asia’s tourism market 
Asiatourism
European travel platform Omio raises $10 million and buys Rail Europe as it chases Asia’s tourism market 
By Nicholas GordonJuly 24, 2026
1 hour ago
Meet SLB: The $70 billion oil services giant poised to cash in on AI data centers and the post-Strait of Hormuz oil exploration boom
Magazineoil and gas
Meet SLB: The $70 billion oil services giant poised to cash in on AI data centers and the post-Strait of Hormuz oil exploration boom
By Jordan BlumJuly 24, 2026
1 hour ago
tokens
AIAI agents
‘You just hired a million bad employees’: How the brief tokenmaxxing era delivered the opposite of what it promised
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 24, 2026
1 hour ago
AMD’s Lisa Su defends open-source AI following Hugging Face security breach caused by OpenAI agents
AIAdvanced Micro Devices
AMD’s Lisa Su defends open-source AI following Hugging Face security breach caused by OpenAI agents
By Sebastian HerreraJuly 23, 2026
9 hours ago
Alphabet Inc. and Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during the inauguration of a Google Artificial Intelligence (AI) hub in Paris on February 15, 2024. (
Big TechWall Street
AI is forcing Big Tech to do something it’s never done: Spend more than it earns, and Wall Street hates it
By Eva RoytburgJuly 23, 2026
10 hours ago
Innovaccer's founders sit in chairs on a stage
AIData
Innovaccer’s CEO walked away from Disney and NASA to fix healthcare’s data mess. Now the startup has crossed $200 million in ARR
By Lily Mae LazarusJuly 23, 2026
10 hours ago

Most Popular

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
2 days ago
Spain lifted the World Cup, but the IRS still gets a cut of its $50 million pay day as players, coaches and refs all face complex U.S. “jock taxes”
Personal Finance
Spain lifted the World Cup, but the IRS still gets a cut of its $50 million pay day as players, coaches and refs all face complex U.S. “jock taxes”
By Joshua HongJuly 23, 2026
1 day ago
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
Economy
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 23, 2026
17 hours ago
Current price of oil as of July 23, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 23, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 23, 2026
22 hours ago
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
Economy
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 22, 2026
2 days ago
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Success
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
4 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.