T-Mobile will shut down Sprint’s LTE network in June 2022. The wireless carrier confirmed the plans to T-Mobile confirmed to Light Reading that it will shut down the Sprint LTE network by June 30, 2022.
The move is part of an effort to merge the T-Mobile and Sprint network following T-Mobile’s purchase of Sprint. T-Mobile is using Sprint spectrum and towers to build out its 5G network. T-Mobile is working to move Sprint customers to the T-Mobile network.
T-Mobile also plans to deactivate Sprint’s 3G CDMA network on January 1, 2022.
To ensure all customers can enjoy a more advanced 4G and 5G network, we will be retiring older network technologies to free up resources and spectrum that will help us strengthen our entire network, move all customers to more advanced technologies and bridge the Digital Divide. An additional part of this effort involves moving Sprint’s LTE spectrum to the T-Mobile network.
T-Mobile has so far transitioned around 33% of Sprint customers to the T-Mobile network. Sprint customers will need to replace their Sprint SIMs with a T-Mobile SIM and enable “Voice Over LTE” on their phones for voice calls on applicable devices.
T-Mobile says that most Sprint LTE and 5G devices are compatible with T-Mobile’s LTE and 5G networks.