T-Mobile To Finally Transition Entire 2G Edge Network To LTE; Issues Cease-And-Desist To Verizon

T-Mobile has issued a cease-and-desist to Verizon Wireless over ads that use 4G LTE coverage maps of the four major carriers. T-Mobile alleges this map understate's the company's actual level of  coverage.

T-Mobile has issued a cease-and-desist to Verizon Wireless over ads that use 4G LTE coverage maps of the four major carriers. T-Mobile alleges this map understate’s the company’s actual level of coverage.

T-Mobile may offer competitive pricing and be an important disruptive factor in a wireless market otherwise dominated by two much larger players, but the company’s network doesn’t yet provide the level of LTE coverage offered by AT&T and Verizon. But T-Mobile is now promising to rid itself of its sludge-like 2G Edge network in favor of LTE by mid-2015.

In an announcement this morning, T-Mo said that it expects to finish half of the LTE upgrade in 2014, with a goal to be “substantially complete” within 18 months.

T-Mobile USA CEO John Legere takes issue with the perception of his company’s network as second-tier to the bigger providers.

“Our competitors want you to believe our network doesn’t measure up. But that just isn’t true,” claims Legere in a statement. “And American consumers are going to see right through the spin and half-truths when given the facts.”

T-Mobile is inarguably in a much better position, network-wise, than it was after the collapse of its plan to merge with AT&T. At that point, the company wasn’t offering any LTE service, but it was able to begin building out its current network, thanks in no small part to the $4 billion in cash and spectrum it received from AT&T when the deal failed.

The company says it is has issued a cease-and-desist to Verizon Wireless regarding its current series of ads comparing coverage maps of the various providers. Legere claims these commercials “massively understate our coverage.”

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