T-Mobile to get the iPhone5?

Cnet is reporting that per Morgan Stanley analyst Nick Delfas 2013 is likely to be the year the iPhone finally comes to T-Mobile.  Right now T-Mobile is the only of the big four cellular providers in the United States to not offer the iPhone.  T-Mobile being left without the ability to offer the world's best selling smartphone has seemed all the more pronounced as the iconic device has become available on much smaller regional carriers.

Since the iPhone 3g, it's been known the major factor keeping the iPhone away from T-Mobile had to do with the provider's exclusive use of the 1700mhz spectrum.  Using a unique spectrum was a strategy originally employed to provide the company with a more clear frequency - in theory improving 3g speeds.  In reality speeds have remained consistent across 3g spectrums and carriers, but T-Mobile's choice has limited the company's ability to offer many top tier handsets as the phones have to be specifically designed for the odd frequency.

In recent years T-Mobile has upgraded their network to running HSPA+, an improved means of operating what's essentially their same 3g network.  HSPA+ is a technology both ATT as well as T-Mobile consider commercially to be "4g", as it offers transfer rates up to 21mbit/s.  Many however consider the only true 4g to be Long Term Evolution (LTE).  LTE offers data speeds with theoretical peaks of 300+mbit/s.  Verizon was first to roll out LTE service in the United States, but Sprint and ATT have also begun to upgrade to this vastly improved network.

Here we return to Morgan Stanley's analyst claim that the iPhone5 will be coming to T-Mobile in early 2013.  T-Mobile has plans to begin unrolling their LTE network in the first half of 2013, this time using a common spectrum which would theoretically allow the current iPhone to operate on the German network's upgraded network.

While we at MW believe the iPhone will ultimately make it's way to T-Mobile in the United States, it will likely not be until a future product (iPhone6), Apple's FQ4 next year.  LTE networks are a difficult beast to unroll.  Considering the length of time much larger ATT's rollout has taken, it's unlikely that T-Mobile will build their's overnight.