Amid US Scrutiny, T-Mobile Delays 3G Network Shutdown 3 Mos. to March 31

T-Mobile delayed by three months to March 31 its plan to shut down its 3G CDMA network. The company faced federal and California scrutiny over the move, which was opposed by Dish Network.

To build out the carrier's 5G network, "we need to sunset outdated CDMA technologies as soon as possible so every consumer, no matter their circumstances, will have access to the best connectivity and best experience," T-Mobile said Friday afternoon. "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," T-Mobile said. "So, we’re stepping up on their behalf." It said there should be "no more room for excuses."

Dish got Boost prepaid wireless customers as part of a divestiture when T-Mobile bought Sprint. Dish didn't comment right away.

DOJ has expressed concerns about the cutoff, and it didn't comment right away. Nor did the FCC, and T-Mobile didn't immediately answer our questions.