Optimum Communications Chairman and CEO Dennis Mathew dropped a bit of news on Optimum’s Q2 earnings call about the company’s growing mobile business, noting that the operator recently expanded its multiyear MVNO agreement with T-Mobile. Specific financial terms were not shared, but Mathew said the resulting benefits include support for connected wearables, “stronger roaming,” improved coverage in rural areas and a path to tailor mobile packages for business service customers.
The new agreement enters the picture as Optimum’s mobile business gathers some steam. Optimum added 49,900 mobile lines in Q2, a record in that period that extended the company’s total to 724,000 mobile lines.
Optimum shed additional light on those anticipated benefits in an announcement released this morning, and Luciano Ramos, Optimum’s chief product and technology officer, expanded on them further in a conversation with Light Reading.
Luciano Ramos joined Optimum Communications (then known as Altice USA) in March 2023. He’s late of Rogers Communications, Liberty Global, Liberty Latin America and Cable & Wireless Communications and Columbus Communications. (Source: Optimum Communications)
Connecting to T-Mobile’s 5G SA network
There are a lot of reasons why Optimum expanded that deal. But first some details on the how. Ramos said these new capabilities are being enabled as Optimum hooks into T-Mobile’s 5G standalone (SA) network. Optimum, which transitioned to a T-Mobile MVNO agreement in the wake of its initial MVNO pact with Sprint, operates its own core network (via four US locations where it hosts its own infrastructure). It is now pressing ahead with the process of integrating that core with T-Mobile’s for its 5G SA platform.
Ramos said that rollout will get underway this year, with Optimum expected to fully launch on T-Mobile’s SA 5G network in early 2027. While many Optimum Mobile customers already have devices that will seamlessly transition, some will have devices that will require a migration plan.
Putting customers on T-Mobile’s SA core, he said, effectively will provide Optimum with access to the capabilities T-Mobile has woven into that core.
Roam (if you want to), and wear it
That will include access to T-Mobile’s roaming partners domestically and internationally, giving Optimum Mobile better reach as customers travel and as they work remotely.
Ramos notes that Optimum has a domestic roaming agreement with AT&T along with international roaming deals with big names such as Vodafone. However, Optimum does not have the broader range of roaming agreements that T-Mobile has in the US and abroad. Once the integration is done, Optimum will have access to the players that are hosted on T-Mobile’s core, Ramos explained.
This integration will also lead to support for a broader array of smartphones, wearables and other types of connected/IoT devices that T-Mobile has certified.
Being able to extend the mobile package to wearables and offer additional lines for other types of devices, such as iPads, “is a big one for us,” Ramos said. “It’s one of our key deliverables for [2027]. We know that customers want it … That’s also going to unlock better family discounts and better bundles for our customers.”
Getting down to business
The expansion will also connect to the business services world. Small businesses can of course buy Optimum Mobile lines, but Optimum currently does not offer a mobile service tailored to SMBs, which typically require accounts and features that aren’t available on residential offerings.
That will change. Ramos said Optimum intends to launch mobile packages for SMBs in the first half of 2027. Ahead of that, Optimum will build a self-care portal for that segment.
It’s further expected that Optimum Mobile will be able to better serve rural areas, particularly in Optimum’s western US footprint. As T-Mobile continues to re-farm spectrum for the SA 5G network, including lowband spectrum that provides improved reach, Optimum will also gain access to that benefit. That should also translate to improved speeds.
“As they [T-Mobile] put more capacity on that side of the network, our customers will be able to use that capacity,” said Ramos.
D2D not (yet) on the front burner
Accessing T-Mobile’s 5G SA core technically gives Optimum Mobile a path to T-Mobile’s direct-to-device (D2D) capabilities, which currently includes a partnership with SpaceX/Starlink and an emerging D2D joint venture with AT&T and Verizon. However, D2D is not an immediate priority for Optimum Mobile.
“We’re letting the market tell us a little bit more on how important that is for our customers,” Ramos said. “We will have the capability to do it, if we decide to … Next year, as we roll out and we get our feet wet into new products and services we’ll make that decision.”
Meanwhile, Optimum and other players are also keeping a close eye on the potential competitive implications of SpaceX’s much-criticized plan to build a terrestrial network.
