Sprint Lights Up True Mobile 5G in Phoenix

Let's play! Hatch cloud gaming now available to Sprint 5G customers

Sprint’s on-the-go customers can now experience the power and performance of True Mobile 5G across the greater Phoenix metro area. The next generation of wireless service is here, delivering coverage and mobility with blazing-fast download speeds. True Mobile 5G from Sprint is set to power new experiences for wireless customers, from gaming and entertainment services, to IoT and business applications. Starting today, Sprint customers can enjoy Hatch mobile cloud gaming on Sprint’s 5G smartphones.

Sprint’s on-the-go customers can now experience the power and performance of True Mobile 5G across the greater Phoenix metro area.

Phoenix is one of nine markets where Sprint has launched True Mobile 5G. In addition to Phoenix, Sprint today launched commercial 5G service in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C. This follows earlier commercial launches in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Kansas City. Sprint’s True Mobile 5G network covers approximately 2,100 square miles with approximately 11 million people expected to be covered in total across all nine market areas in the coming weeks, giving Sprint the largest initial 5G coverage footprint in the U.S.

"We’re proud to give Sprint customers their first truly mobile 5G experience across Phoenix," said Sprint CEO Michel Combes. "This is just the start of tremendous growth and innovation that Sprint, together with T-Mobile, will bring to a wide range of industries including energy, healthcare, manufacturing, finance, insurance, transportation, hospitality and more."

Today Sprint True Mobile 5G is delivering faster download speeds with Ookla® Speedtest Intelligence® data showing Sprint’s average 5G download speed of 203.8 Mbps is nearly 6X faster than Sprint’s average LTE download speed of 35.2 Mbps.1

Sprint True Mobile 5G will cover approximately 740,000 people across the greater Phoenix metro area with service in parts of Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale and Glendale. Sprint customers can experience mobile 5G at popular destinations such as Mill Avenue near ASU, Sun Devil Stadium, Wells Fargo Arena, Grand Canyon University, Heard Museum, Sloan Park, Scottsdale Waterfront at Stetson Canal, Old Town Scottsdale and the Biltmore area along Camelback Road.

At the foundation of Sprint 5G is Massive MIMO, a breakthrough technology that dramatically improves network capacity. In Phoenix, Sprint is using 64T64R (64 transmitters 64 receivers) 5G Massive MIMO radios from Nokia. These radios support a feature called split-mode that enables Sprint to simultaneously deliver LTE Advanced and 5G New Radio (NR) service. Sprint’s 5G Massive MIMO radios run on its 2.5 GHz mid-band spectrum, and they are deployed on Sprint’s existing 4G cell sites, providing a nearly identical footprint for both 2.5 GHz LTE and 5G NR coverage.

"Today’s 5G launch in Phoenix has been over a year in the making as we’ve collaborated with Sprint on the deployment of Nokia’s Massive MIMO and 5G innovations," said Ricky Corker, Nokia President of Customer Operations for the Americas. "Our collaboration has required significant expertise and stringent testing to ensure a high quality, high performing network that can deliver the anticipated 5G services to Sprint’s customers."

Source: Sprint media announcement