Currently, T-Mobile’s LTE service covers around 265 million people, which is pretty impressive given their position just two years ago. But, by the end of 2015, the company says its target is to reach 300 million. Bringing it closer to the likes of AT&T and Verizon.

Over on the HowardForums, a growing thread shows off a number of slides displaying what that coverage growth is going to look like. The maps were originally part of a PDF made available by T-Mobile after its presentation at Deutsche Telekom Capital Markets Day.

It’s going from this:

To this:

And although it’s “only” 35 million more people, the extra geographical area covered seems huge. And it could go some way to improving the public perception of T-Mobile’s rural coverage, especially as the LTE deployment moves outside of the major metro areas and in to smaller towns, cities and along the highways.

Covering more land area and more people isn’t the only important issue here. As we know, the company is working hard to deploy its available 700MHz band 12 frequency LTE to provide stronger indoor coverage in a number of markets across the U.S. Washington DC, Dallas, Houston, Cleveland and Minneapolis all have 700MHz networks active. And with the list of compatible handsets growing, more people will be able to take advantage of the lower frequency airwaves.

Another network technology to look forward to by 2016 is T-Mobile’s intriguing move to start rolling out its small cell LTE-U/LAA network using unlicensed 5GHz spectrum. It was announced recently that the carrier is working with Nokia to begin rolling out the technology, beginning with indoor malls before eventually deploying them outdoors.

Thanks, Michael and “brobot”.

Source: HoFo