T-Mobile claims it didn’t lie about 4G coverage, says FCC measured wrong

Enlarge / The logo of Deutsche Telekom, owner of T-Mobile, seen at Mobile World Congress in February 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. (credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto )

T-Mobile says the Federal Communications Commission screwed up 4G measurements in a report that accused the carrier of exaggerating its mobile coverage. The FCC report "incorrectly implies, based on a flawed verification process, that we overstated coverage," T-Mobile said in an FCC filing Monday.

The FCC staff report, issued in December, found that Verizon, T-Mobile, and US Cellular exaggerated their 4G coverage in official filings. As the FCC said, "Overstating mobile broadband coverage misleads the public and can misallocate our limited universal service funds."

The FCC relies on carriers' submissions to determine which parts of the country receive government funding to expand broadband access. The disputed submissions are among those the FCC is using to distribute up to $4.5 billion in Mobility Fund money over the next 10 years.

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