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According to Sprint’s CEO, a lot depends on the hoped-for merger of his company with T-Mobile. Indeed, according to Marcelo Claure, the United States will not be a world leader in 5G if the merger does not go ahead.

Claure’s statement is, of course, a way of putting the necessary pressure on the authorities that have to approve the planned major merger. According to Claure, the merger should really go ahead, because the combined company is the only one in the United States that has enough financial resources to allow the US to maintain its leading position. The new company would spend $40 billion over the next three years to build its 5G network.

Warm up for 5G

The mobile industry has been warming up to 5G technology for some time now. Worldwide there is a battle going on around which region is the first to have a working network and telecom manufacturers are doing their best to be able to build these networks. However, to do so, network operators will have to make substantial investments.

The President of CTIA, the American trade group on wireless communications, also recognises the importance of 5G. Being a leader in 4G was critical to the growth of our economy and the ability to create jobs. Other countries have been able to see what 4G leadership has meant for America. We can’t afford to lose this [5G] race.

The 5G race

Earlier this year, however, it turned out that the United States was slightly behind. China is investing much more in the development of a 5G infrastructure. At the same time, the United States would be ready to switch to technology sooner than Europe and Asia are.

It is predicted that by 2025 half of all mobile connections in the United States will be over a 5G network. In Europe and certain Asian markets, that would be 30%. By 2025 there would continue to be 1.3 billion 5G connections worldwide, and North America would account for 268 million of these connections.

Claure promised in his statement that Sprint and T-Mobile would also roll out their 5G network in rural environments. He also met critics who fear that consumers will have less freedom of choice and will have to take out more expensive subscriptions, by promising that the merged company will offer lower prices.

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.