T-Mobile made an unexpected announcement on December 13, revealing its plans to launch a TV service in 2018. To help out with the technology, T-Mobile also announced that it has acquired Layer3 TV for an unknown sum of money.

T-Mobile, America’s third largest cellular carrier as it stands, is looking to enter the TV streaming marketplace as part of its next ‘Uncarrier’ move. Considering the growth in this category, it’s unsurprising T-Mobile selected it to be its next aim, and this could be interesting.

T-Mobile CEO, John Legere, spoke about the carrier’s plans. He talked about the TV industry, claiming that customers are paying their cable company way too much. He also threw punches saying that customer service has been “terrible.” To combat this, the carrier has decided to take early necessary steps to launch a TV service of its own in 2018. As we’ve seen from Google with YouTube TV, and a variety of others, this is no easy market to penetrate, as average consumers have been reluctant to change. It won’t be easy, but with the help of Layer3 TV, T-Mobile is off to a good start by showing it’s willing to invest the money. The carrier plans to establish presence in the market to begin challenging modern-day cable TV providers.

Layer3 TV has already begun to gather an audience with its set-top box that allows users to stream 4K content throughout their home. As of right now, the service is only available in a few regions, but T-Mobile will likely re-brand and help it expand to additional markets. The carrier could also help in partnering up with popular content providers, because Layer3 TV has been a little shy from what we see on their website.

We’re looking at 2018. We don’t know any further detail right now, how Layer3 TV will be used, what the service will entail, nor how much it will cost. There are a lot of question marks, but you can bet T-Mobile wireless customers will get some kind of discount to bundle up. If T-Mobile can bring something enticing next year, the service may just be worth switching to from something like Verizon’s Fios or AT&T’s DirecTV. We’ll keep you posted on the progress of the project.

SOURCE [T-Mobile]