BELLEVUE, Wash. and New York, NY — December 14, 2020 — T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) and The Drone Racing League (DRL), the global, professional drone racing property, announced a broad-reaching partnership to advance 5G-powered drone technology. Como parte del acuerdo de varios años, T-Mobile hizo una inversión en DRL a través del fondo de T-Mobile Ventures de la compañía, y el Un-carrier ha firmado como el socio de servicio móvil 5G de EE. UU. exclusivo de la liga. Juntos, T-Mobile y DRL harán innovaciones en la tecnología de drones para carreras 5G para crear los primeros drones para carreras 5G integrados, con el objetivo de incorporarlos de forma auténtica en el deporte. DRL desarrollará los primeros drones para carreras personalizados de su tipo con el poder del 5G de T-Mobile durante la 2021 DRL Allianz World Championship Season.
DRL's high-speed 5G racing drones, running on America's first and largest 5G network, will enable the companies to stream DRL's 3D racing action to fans in real-time. And the 5G racing drones will enable the companies to deliver unique, immersive experiences to fans and millions of T-Mobile customers across the country, and open up opportunities for new applications across a wide variety of industries.
"We invested in DRL to fuel innovation in two large and growing markets - drones and tech-powered sports - and we can't wait to supercharge both with T-Mobile 5G," said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. "The world's fastest drones and the nation's largest 5G network - now that's a fantastic combination!"
DRL features the world's top pilots flying custom racing drones through live and virtual iconic locations around the globe to create the New Playing Field, combining the adrenaline of high-speed racing with the limitless possibilities of esports. In live events, pilots race standardized FPV (First Person View) drones at nearly 100 miles per hour, wearing goggles that stream a live video feed from a camera on their drone, as they navigate complex, three-dimensional courses. Tens of millions of next generation sports fans watch DRL on premier sports networks around the world, including NBC, NBCSN, Twitter and Facebook.
"T-Mobile is one of the most innovative marketers in sports, entertainment and technology -- sharing our mission to bring the most immersive experiences to millions of fans around the world. With a foundation of the best 5G wireless technology to power our racing drones, we're excited to set the new standard for sports and create cutting-edge content and collaborations across T-Mobile's sports, music and lifestyle properties," said DRL President Rachel Jacobson.
Innovating through new groundbreaking technology is part of DRL's DNA: The league has launched four iterations of racing drones, a record-setting fastest racing drone, and the first autonomous racing drone -- all designed and hand-built with proprietary technology by its in-house team of expert drone engineers. The addition of T-Mobile 5G will propel the sport forward and offer new opportunities to drive fan engagement. Data shows that DRL fans are ready, willing and able to play a part -- they are 14X more likely than the U.S. population to be considered "tech-savvy" and 4X more likely to be interested in gaming.
T-Mobile has invested in DRL through T-Mobile Ventures, a multi-year investment fund focused on early and emerging growth companies developing groundbreaking 5G products and services for the T-Mobile network. As a T-Mobile Ventures portfolio company, DRL will benefit from T-Mobile's network and engineering expertise, go-to-market infrastructure and investment backing as the companies work together to develop the next big thing in 5G racing drones and sports technology.
As part of the partnership, DRL will feature T-Mobile in the 2021 DRL Allianz World Championship Season through advertising spots and branded course elements in the DRL SIM, the virtual platform hosting the elite competition. T-Mobile will also support the DRL Academy, the league's STEM program, creating educational programming around 5G and drones to inspire the next generation of technologists and digital athletes.
T-Mobile 5G, A Platform for Innovation
T-Mobile is America's 5G leader, delivering 5G speeds in more places with the first and largest nationwide 5G network. T-Mobile's Extended Range 5G covers more than 270 million people across more than 1.4 million square miles - 2x more geographic coverage than AT&T and 3.5x more than Verizon. With Sprint now part of T-Mobile, the Un-carrier is quickly lighting up Ultra Capacity 5G with technology that can deliver download speeds of 300 Mbps and peak speeds up to 1 Gbps.
Now is the time for developers to build applications that take advantage of 5G's transformational power, and drones represent one of the most exciting use cases for 5G. From the engine behind a new self-service economy, to industrial IoT, security monitoring, emergency response and so much more, autonomous 5G drones will dramatically transform industry and commerce.
With its supercharged 5G network as the foundation, T-Mobile is working to fuel this kind of 5G innovation. T-Mobile Ventures backs early and emerging growth companies building the next big thing in 5G. The Un-carrier also collaborates with universities and standards bodies to support 5G research and development. In addition, T-Mobile runs the award-winning T-Mobile Accelerator and is a co-founder of the 5G Open Innovation Lab.
For more on T-Mobile’s plans for 5G-powered drone innovation, read today’s blog from the company’s EVP of Advanced & Emerging Technologies, John Saw.
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Acerca de T-Mobile
T‑Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) es El Un‑carrier superpoderoso de Estados Unidos con una red 4G LTE avanzada y una transformativa red 5G nacional que ofrecerá una conectividad confiable para todos. Los clientes de T‑Mobile reciben una calidad inigualable por su dinero, una firme obsesión por ofrecerles la mejor experiencia de servicio posible y un dinamismo indiscutible para disrumpir el mercado y así crear competencia e innovación más allá del ámbito del servicio móvil. Con sede en Bellevue, Washington, T‑Mobile presta servicios a través de sus subsidiarias y opera sus marcas emblemáticas, T‑Mobile, Metro by T‑Mobile y Sprint. For more information please visit: http://www.t-mobile.com.
About Drone Racing League
The Drone Racing League (DRL) is the global, professional drone racing property for elite FPV (First Person View) pilots. Merging the digital with the real, DRL combines innovative drone technology, custom content, and visually thrilling racing across live sporting and esports events to create the new playing field. Founded by Nicholas Horbaczewski in 2015, DRL is a privately held company headquartered in NYC. For more information, visit www.drl.io. To join the conversation, follow DRL on Facebook at facebook.com/thedroneracingleague, on Twitter @DroneRaceLeague, and on Instagram @thedroneracingleague.