The company's president and COO Mike Sievert submitted a filing to the FCC in which he addresses the "New T-Mobile," as the company will apparently be known if its bid to merge with Sprint is successful. The company will be able to offer in-home 5G service to 52 percent of US zip codes by the year 2024, making it a real competitor for both Charter and Comcast. "New T-Mobile's entry into the in-home broadband marketplace will cause incumbent providers to lower their prices and invest in their networks—benefitting all in-home broadband customers," Sievert says in the filing.

The strategy here is to identify areas where the existing infrastructure can support at-home broadband services. "The wireless in-home broadband service will be deployed in areas where the available capacity exceeds mobile requirements and is sufficient to support the in-home services," the release continues. This will help keep costs down, and therefore allow competitive pricing for services.

It's unclear whether New T-Mobile can live up to the promise of offering similar speeds to cable internet via at-home 5G. If it's possible, then that could dramatically change the ISP landscape. The biggest potential for the service is in rural areas, which are underserved by traditional broadband internet and would likely not require too much additional infrastructure for 5G home internet. There are a lot of uncertain variables here, including whether the T-Mobile/Sprint merger will even be approved, but this is certainly something we'll be keeping an eye on.