In the wake of yesterday's report that Sprint will begin offering the iPhone in the United States with the launch of the iPhone 5, apparently scheduled for "mid-October", MacTrast now reports that T-Mobile USA will also be gaining access to the iPhone. The addition of T-Mobile, which AT&T has announced its intent to acquire, alongside Sprint would bring the iPhone to all four of the major U.S. carriers.
Following our report yesterday that Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 will be arriving on the Sprint network, a contact within T-Mobile who claims to have been briefed on the matter has informed us that, in addition to arriving on Sprint at launch, the iPhone 5 will arrive on T-Mobile’s network at launch as well.
The informant, who requested to remain anonymous, went on to claim that the iPhone 5 would also operate at 3G speeds on T-Mobile US network. Current unlocked iPhone 4 units can only operate at at 2G “edge” speeds on T-Mobile’s network, and lack certain network-dependent features, such as Visual Voicemail.
T-Mobile USA claimed earlier this year to already have one million iPhones running on its network, despite the devices being limited to EDGE speeds and missing other features.
Apple and AT&T have reportedly been testing iPhone prototypes compatible with the carrier's 3G network, making a deal to bring the device to T-Mobile a realistic possibility. Research analysts and other sources have periodically claimed that T-Mobile USA will be gaining the iPhone, but rumors have been quiet in recent weeks even as other iPhone-related rumors have ramped up as the iPhone 5 launch reportedly nears.
