iPhone 5 to Run on T-Mobile or Not - Apple will Decide

The technical obstacle to the iPhone coming to T-Mobile will be swept away, T-Mobile's Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray has said.

It is the unique band of spectrum called AWS (Advanced Wireless Services), which has prevented iPhone from running on T-Mobile, Ray told CNet.

However, the next chipset that Apple plans to use will remove the obstacle. The next chipset will support AWS, Ray said. The challenge that existed in the past will go away.

The tech giant can choose to support AWS with the chipsets that are available in the market. Ray said that the supporting chipsets are available to all the original equipment manufacturers. Nevertheless, it doesn't mean that iPhone will be coming to T-Mobile as it's all up to Apple - it can also choose to ignore T-Mobile's capability.

It can't be denied that T-Mobile is losing out on profit without the iPhone, especially as its major rivals such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint are selling Apple's popular handsets, T-Mobile's CEO Philipp Humm acknowledged at a press conference at CES 2012 on Tuesday. Because the company missed the perfect opportunity of hopping on to the iPhone bandwagon, it lost a lot of subscribers, particularly high-value-contract ones known as postpaid. When iPhone 4S hit the market last Oct., AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and even regional carrier C-Spir began selling the iPhone. T-Mobile said it was interested in the device but ultimately Apple must decide who its wireless partners should be.

T-Mobile thinks the iPhone is a good device and we've expressed our interest to Apple to offer it to our customers, the company had said after it became official that the wireless carrier would not be selling iPhone 4S when it launched. Ultimately, it is Apple's decision.

We firmly believe that T-Mobile's portfolio will give any iPhone a run for its money, T-Mobile had said.

Towards the end of last year, AT&T gave up its decision of acquiring T-Mobile. Currently, the carrier is back on the road to recovery. The company is aggressive in improving its network and is expected to unveil its turnaround plans late in the first quarter, according to Ray.

However, whether the company can sell the next generation iPhone (dubbed iPhone 5) or not is still hanging in doubt. In a word, it's Apple's decision.

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