T-Mobile US announced a plan to launch its fibre-based home internet service to more than 500,000 households across the US, which includes a five-year price guarantee and other perks.
The operator’s T-Mobile Fiber Home Internet will officially launch on 5 June following the close of its joint venture to buy US-based FTTH provider Lumos Networks in April.
In addition to the five-year price guarantee, T-Mobile stated there are no monthly equipment fees, installation charges or annual contracts.
Prior to the close of the deal, Lumos served 475,000 homes over 7,500 route miles with fibre-based internet and home Wi-Fi across three US states.
In 2024, T-Mobile US paid $4.9 billion for a 50 per cent stake in US-based fibre service provider Metronet. The operator noted the close of the Metronet joint venture will expand its fibre reach to 12 million to 15 million households by the end of 2030
T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert has touted the Lumos and Metronet deals as “capital light” investments in fibre and as a way to offer a home broadband service where its fixed wireless access service is nearing capacity on its 5G network.
The operator launched a FTTH service in residential buildings in the US state of New York in 2021 and then started developing a fibre scheme a year later.
Fibre tiers
T-Mobile’s standard fibre plans include a 500 Mb/s tier for $60 per month. Customers need to use autopay and be subscribers to a T-Mobile voice line. The service costs $75 a month with autopay and without the mobile line.
The Fiber 1 Gig tier includes everything from the Fiber 500 offering along with whole home Wi-Fi and mesh devices to extend the service throughout a home. It costs $75 a month with autopay and a T-Mobile voice line or $90 autopay without the line.
The Fiber 2 Gig offering is the operator’s fastest service and comes with the same perks as Fiber 1 Gig. It costs $90 per month with autopay and a T-Mobile voice line or $105 per month with autopay.
The high-end Fiber Founders Club service includes the 2 Gig plan for $70 a month with autopay and no voice line. It doubles the price guarantee to ten years, but T-Mobile noted it is only available in some locations for a limited time.
All the tiers include access to the operator’s T-Mobile Tuesday promotions for deals on dining, gas and entertainment and streaming sports subscriptions.
Fibre feeding frenzy
Rivals AT&T and Verizon are binge buying fibre assets as they look to expand into new areas and use it for backhaul of their mobile services.
Last month, AT&T struck a $5.75 billion deal to buy Lumen Technologies’ consumer fibre operations, which includes roughly a million existing fibre subscribers and infrastructure reaching more than 4 million locations across 11 states.
In 2024, AT&T revealed plans to expand the reach of its fibre joint venture with private equity firm BlackRock Alternatives beyond the initial 1.5 million locations announced in late 2022, as well as unveiling four new agreements with commercial open access fibre providers.
AT&T’s move follows Verizon’s $20 billion deal to buy Frontier Communications, which includes 2.2 million fibre subscribers.
In May, Verizon secured regulatory approval for its purchase of Frontier’s fibre operations.