T-Mobile US said it can deliver 5G on its own and it plans to at least double the speeds it provides today when it rolls out 5G services later this year. While the operator is determined to push its proposed merger with Sprint through, the outcome appears up in the air and company executives are explaining how it will move forward if the deal falls apart.

If regulators block the merger, peak speeds on the operator’s network will reach “hundreds of megabits per second,” but it “pales in comparison to what we can do with the New T-Mobile,” CTO Neville Ray said during the company’s latest earnings call.

“We have this mid-band dilemma. We can solve that with the combination of T-Mobile and Sprint, and really move forward with a tremendous 5G experience with breadth and depth,” he explained. “On a standalone basis, it’s a different world. But then that’s us and AT&T and Verizon and everybody else trying to figure out how do we move to that next level of performance with 5G in a world where the mid-band spectrum that’s needed to really drive that is not coming from auctions or from other sources in any real timeframe that’s comfortable for anybody.”

Ray argued that the combination of T-Mobile US and Sprint would deliver a mid-band spectrum opportunity for the company would not otherwise be created in the marketplace in the coming years.

Analysts that have grown less optimistic about the proposed merger’s outcome reacted positively to the operator’s latest earnings and expect the company to remain competitive and well positioned as a standalone company if that’s the situation it finds itself in.

“If T-Mobile does have to go it alone, results like these are a reminder that … well, there could be worse outcomes. T-Mobile will be just fine on their own,” analysts at Moffett Nathanson wrote in a report. “T-Mobile remains by far the industry’s best growth story.”

The operator’s capital spending during the first quarter of 2019 was up 41% year over year to $1.9 billion. “The increase was primarily due to the deployment of low-band 600 MHz spectrum, which is also laying the groundwork for the introduction of our 5G network in the second half of 2019,” the carrier wrote in its earnings report.

Indeed, 600 MHz will factor heavily into the operator’s 5G plans with or without Sprint. “Our 600 MHz LTE deployment is on equipment that’s 5G ready. And we continue to make incredible progress since getting our hands on the spectrum,” CEO John Legere said during the earnings call. “”We plan to launch 5G on 600 MHz as soon as we have compatible smartphones in the second half of this year. And if our merger with Sprint is approved, we will get access to unmatched available mid-band spectrum for 5G, which will result in a uniquely powerful 5G network with eight times the capacity by 2024 of the combined standalones today and 15 times average speeds by 2024 verses today.

T-Mobile US has covered more than 1 million square miles with its 600 MHz LTE deployment to date, Ray explained. “When we get the terminals in the second half of 2019, we’re going to be lighting up an enormous footprint on 5G, an enormous footprint on 600 MHz,” he said. “We intend to put down a very large three-, four-lane highway across the U.S. with 600 MHz. And I think it’s going to be in stark contrast to the pockets of 5G that are out there today.”

The operator also plans to make 5G available on millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum when it launches the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G smartphone later this year. While mmWave spectrum doesn’t penetrate walls or windows very well, it can play a role in dense urban environments, Ray explained.

With its proposed acquisition of Sprint hanging in the balance, T-Mobile US is walking a fine line between boosting confidence in its standalone abilities while continuing to make arguments in favor of the need to merge and acquire Sprint’s mid-band spectrum.

“If T-Mobile really does have to proceed on a standalone basis, the backdrop could hardly be better,” analysts at Moffett Nathanson wrote. “T-Mobile will, in short, be fine with or without Sprint.”

T-Mobile US banked $908 million in net income on earnings of $11.1 billion during the latest quarter. Those numbers marked a 6% year-over-year increase in revenues and 35% increase in net income. The operator is maintaining a full-year capex guidance range of $5.8 billion to $6.1 billion.