Since Xfinity Mobile’s launch in 2017 and Comcast Business Mobile’s debut in 2021, we have become one of the fastest growing wireless services in the US. In just six years, we have more than six million wireless lines to create a successful multi-billion-dollar revenue business with a long runway for future growth.

Our focus has always been on providing the best broadband and wireless offerings and experiences to our customers. We have the fastest, most reliable broadband and WiFi network coupled with a great MVNO with the nation’s top mobile carrier, which enables us to deliver one the best valued mobile products in the industry.

Wireless and its convergence with broadband is a key part of our strategy, and it can deliver unbeatable benefits. Roughly 90 percent of our customer’s data usage is over WiFi. Hosting most of our customers’ mobile data traffic on our own WiFi network creates significant savings and enables us to continue to offer competitive pricing.

Several years ago, we began exploring the potential benefits of a 5G network that would enhance our wireless strategy. We acquired wireless spectrum in the CBRS and 600 MHz bands as a key building block to host even more data traffic on our own wireless networks. Beginning this month, after successful employee tests of the CBRS spectrum, Xfinity Mobile and Comcast Business Mobile customers in Philadelphia will start connecting to our new 5G network for the first time.

Our 5G network field tests with CBRS spectrum have exceeded our expectations and we’ve found the band to be highly efficient and a significant part of a 5G network. This strong CBRS spectrum performance has made us realize that we are unlikely to need the 600 MHz spectrum licenses that we currently hold to support our wireless customers. As a result, we recently entered into an agreement with T-Mobile in which it will lease and eventually purchase our licenses in the 600 MHz band.

T-Mobile is already a user of 600 MHz spectrum, so it makes sense for us to enter into this “lease to purchase” arrangement so that they can put this spectrum to use in short order. We’ll continue to test with 600 MHz in our Philadelphia market and if our perspective changes, we’ve secured the option to reclaim the 600 MHz spectrum within our markets, giving us excellent optionality if we need it in the future.

The 600 MHz we are providing to T-Mobile includes a single 10 MHz license in most markets, so we don’t expect any material impact to our business. Under our agreement, Comcast will receive quarterly lease payments followed by a final payment of roughly $3.3 billion for the license purchase, which we expect to occur in 2028.

Our wireless strategy has been well-received, as our mobile offerings consistently rank among the leaders in customer satisfaction and our capital-light approach has proven to be a winner for our business. This new 5G network using CBRS spectrum is an exciting opportunity and is one that we could deploy to other markets where it makes good business sense. We’ll continue to look for ways to innovate and deliver next-generation connectivity offerings for our customers.

Tom Nagel is SVP, Wireless Strategy.