T-Mobile wants to have nationwide 5G coverage by end of 2020, seems very aggressive.  It will cost up to 25B.  It is quite likely to do so as a merged company with Sprint, IMO.

T-Mobile's CapEx for this fiscal year is around $5B, Sprint's is around $2.2B (down from $4.9B in 2015).  So, together they can absorb a massive 5G deployment costing up to $25B. As too the reason I believe the merger will happen is because of the Trump administration being business friendly.  T-Mobile has already started talks with Softbank and Sprint, it is at the first contact level, so it is quite early.

Given T-Mobile's aggressive move, it will put a sense of urgency at T and Verizon.  For deployments to be complete by end of 2020, the roll out will have to start late 2018, IMO.  The level of combined spending in the US will be huge.  T-Mobile in Europe is also planning 5G deployment, I do not have the specifics, but Europe would likely feel the pressure as well, and not be too far behind

lightreading.com/mo...732543