T-Mobile US just closed on a fiber acquisition, has another one pending, and might have appetite for more wired broadband acquisitions if the numbers align, but in the meantime it continues to bolster its 5G-based network to serve new high-bandwidth use cases.

T-Mobile US recently closed on its joint venture to acquire fiber provider Lumos, and is in the process of acquiring fiber provider Metronet through another joint venture. Those two deals will provide T-Mobile US with a fiber network passing up to 15 million locations. While a big leap for the carrier, that reach is far smaller than what larger rivals Verizon and AT&T have on their books.

“I don’t want to sort of speculate on rumors and all that stuff, but I think we’ve kind of mostly shown our hand here,” T-Mobile US CEO Mike Sievert said during the carrier’s first-quarter earnings call of its potential appetite for more wired broadband infrastructure. “We're a growth company, … what you see is our interest in 5G broadband that has made us the fastest-growing overall broadband company in America for 13 quarters. And you've also seen us show our hand in terms of wireline internet as having an increased interest relative to other things in pure-play fiber.”

Sievert added that this interest is due to the technological properties of wired broadband compared to wireless.

“It's the most elegant way to serve customers. It's lower cost. It's a superior product, and it's more consistent with the way we run our company,” Sievert said. “I can't talk broadly about rumors and speculation and all that. But our strategy is pretty clear here, and I love the hand we have because we are leaders in broadband today, intend to continue to be, and I think you'll see T-Fiber continue to play a bigger and bigger role slowly and systematically over time.”

Outside of any rumors, Sievert did note that, “we are out there kicking the tires. And our appetite is limited, and it has to be just the right thing. And we've kind of shown our preference for pure-play fiber. It doesn't mean we're going to limit ourselves to that, but we've shown our preference for that. We also love the strategy that we've already unveiled.”

One of those tires could be at Lumen Technologies, which is looking to shed its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) business. Published reports indicate that AT&T is in discussions to acquire those assets for $5.5 billion, a thought AT&T management has not dismissed.

5G wireless network advances

While T-Mobile US might be open to adding more fiber to its broadband diet, it remains committed to bolstering its 5G wireless main course. The carrier added 424,000 net fixed-wireless access (FWA) customers during Q1, which was more broadband net additions than any other broadband provider in the country and remains on track to grow that connection base from 6.9 million at the end of Q1 to 12 million connections by 2028.

The carrier this week said it has launched 5G-Advanced capabilities across its network, opening up new service opportunities. The deployment is using a mix of the 3GPP Release 17 and 18 standard and rides on top of the carrier’s long-standing 5G standalone (SA) core that it launched in 2020.

Analysts have noted that 5G-Advanced will be critical for operators to support revenue-generating services like network slicing and extended reality (XR), and can take advantage of new artificial intelligence (AI) (AI)-fueled network technology like artificial intelligence radio access network (AI-RAN). That last angle is one T-Mobile US has been driving through its AI-RAN Alliance membership.

T-Mobile US, specifically, is touting the network slicing ability, pointing to services like sports broadcasting and its public safety focused T-Priority service.

T-Mobile US’ 2-cents on tariffs

Sievert also joined his fellow carrier executives in espousing a pass-along plan for dealing with any cost changes for devices tied to increased tariffs.

“I mean it's pretty hard to predict right now what's going to happen from a tariff standpoint. Obviously, it's a moving target,” Sievert said. “We certainly understand the goals of the administration. It's not clear how much this is going to affect the handset market. I think to the extent that it does land and if it's a material thing, ultimately, I think we're going to see that the customer is going to wind up having to bear that cost. Taking on something big on the tariff front is just not something our business model is interested in trying to do or able to try to do.”