The regulatory discussion over the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint is chugging along at the usual speed of government bureaucracy, but new details about T-Mobile’s plans post-merger are slowly leaking out. In a filing this week, T-Mobile chief operating officer Mike Sievert said that the company will use its 5G network to offer home broadband — at speeds that provide an alternative to cable or fiber — to over half the country.  

Specifically, Sievert said that “The combined company will be able to offer [home broadband] to over 52 percent of zip codes across the county. New T-Mobile will cover 64 percent of Charter’s territory and 68 percent of Comcast’s territory with its in-home broadband services by 2024.” If true, this would represent a game-changing shift in the home internet market across the US, and offer a real alternative to the cable monopolies that most Americans subscribe to.  

Unfortunately, T-Mobile has already shown that it’s willing to say almost anything to get this merger through, and this may be another case of executives saying whatever the FCC wants to hear.