T-Mobile delays the Sprint 3G network shutdown date as DISH forces its hand

After acquiring Sprints Boost prepaid businesses and customers, DISH was given access to the network of the resulting new T-Mobile carrier for no less than seven years, to ease the transition of Boost's subscribers while it's building its own independent 5G broadband network.

T-Mobile will shut Sprint's legacy CDMA network down on April 1, 2022, instead of January 1, 2022, and the press release announcing the delay in Sprint's 2G/3G network sunset couldn't sound more sour if the Un-carrier was eating lemons raw while typing it. 

After acquiring Sprint’s Boost prepaid businesses and customers, DISH was given access to the network of the resulting new T-Mobile carrier for no less than seven years, to ease the transition of Boost's subscribers while it's building its own independent 5G broadband network.

DISH also counted on a three-year legacy Sprint CDMA network shutdown period and expressed surprise when T-Mobile announced plans to sunset it earlier than planned, on December 31, 2021.

Cue the outrage, the letters to the DoJ, or DISH's switch to AT&T as a "primary" 5G network threat, and it forced T-Mobile's hand to avoid further trouble by extending the Sprint 3G network shutdown by three months. Previously, it had also postponed its own 3G network shutdown date to April 1, 2022 (formerly October 1st, 2021), and it is now evening out the Sprint 3G sunset date, too.

T-Mobile's Sprint CDMA sunset delay announcement is full of allusions and potshots against some "partners" it says did nothing to prepare their customers for the shutdown despite all the warnings:

To build out our revolutionary network that will deliver the broadest and deepest 5G experience FOR ALL across the country, we need to sunset outdated CDMA technologies as soon as possible so every consumer, no matter their circumstances, will have access to the best connectivity and best experience. This is why we have aggressively executed on plans to take care of transitioning our impacted Sprint CDMA customers by the end of this year and provided our partners plenty of time and resources to take care of their customers as well.


Recently it’s become increasingly clear that some of those partners haven’t followed through on their responsibility to help their customers through this shift. So, we’re stepping up on their behalf. We have made the decision to extend our deadline for the CDMA sunset by three months to March 31, 2022...

Our reason for extending is simple: we want to give those partners who haven’t done the right thing for their customers every opportunity to step up now and do so.

There should be no more room for excuses. We have provided even more time and those partners can follow suit with the effort that is needed to ensure no one is left on the wrong side of the digital divide.

T-Mobile is leaving very little doubt who are these "partners" it expects to do the "right thing" and come better prepared when spring knocks on their subscriber's doors and it will be interesting to hear DISH's reaction on the Sprint 3G network shutdown extension to March 31, 2022. After all, Verizon pushed its 3G network shutdown plans by a full year to the end of 2022, so DISH may deem the 3-month extension insufficient still. View Full Bio

Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.

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