BELLEVUE, Washington. May 29, 2025. Hurricane season has started, and at T-Mobile we're ready. As extreme weather events become more frequent and intense, T-Mobile has ramped up its preparations with new advanced technology, expanded capabilities, and an even more resilient network to keep people connected when it matters most.

This year, T-Mobile® has implemented next-generation technology and updates to support disaster response and recovery, including:

• A smarter network that reacts faster: T-Mobile®'s improved self-organizing network (SON) uses real-time Data and AI to detect issues and adapt automatically, while ensuring more reliable connectivity before, during, and after a disaster.
• Uninterrupted satellite messaging: T-Satellite with Starlink, the country's first and only "direct connect" satellite service, has sent over 500,000 messages and 140 mobile emergency alerts during recent hurricanes and wildfires, without requiring any additional setup, app, or hardware for most modern smartphones.
• AI-powered threat detection: T-Mobile's emergency operations centers now use Dataminr integrated with Everbridge to better detect severe weather threats and infrastructure threats in real time.
• Larger and more robust response vehicles: T-Mobile has added extra-large SatCOWs (mobile satellite cell sites) and extra-large SatCOLTs (satellite cellular systems mounted on light trucks) that are new, larger, and packed with technology, the largest and most capable in T-Mobile's fleet, providing more coverage than existing trucks.
• Unprecedented assistance for natural disaster response efforts: emergency service members now have T-Mobile's T-Priority, the country's first network segment that helps them stay prepared, respond more quickly, and protect their communities.

"At T-Mobile, we know that in today's world, staying connected is not a luxury; it's a vital necessity," says Ulf Ewaldsson, president of technology at T-Mobile. “We are constantly boosting the solid foundation of our network with smarter technology, advanced AI, and space satellite innovation to make it Even More® resilient and offer greater responsiveness.”

Self-organizing network: smarter and faster disaster response with AI and automation

Through proactive AI, T-Mobile's SON allows the network to self-repair and adapt in real time, detecting disruptions, assessing nearby cell towers, and automatically optimizing performance to maintain coverage and prevent congestion.
If a Cell Site stops working, the SON can automatically configure nearby towers—tilt antennas, increase power, and reroute signals—to cover areas with no coverage. It also intelligently distributes network resources to prevent backup towers from becoming overloaded, which helps maintain reliable service even under excessive demand. When a commercial power outage occurs, SON saves energy by morphing the use of the spectrum to extend the lifespan of generators and batteries. During Hurricanes Helene and Milton, T-Mobile's SON made over 121,000 antenna adjustments. Also, during the Southern California wildfires, it made over 12,000 adjustments, all to keep people connected.

T-Satellite: connectivity when you need it

With T-Satellite's satellite service to cell phones, when cell towers are down, you can text friends, family, and 911, regardless of your mobile service provider. T-Satellite is the country's first and only space-based wireless service network that automatically connects your phone when traditional cellular service is unavailable, without the need to do anything.

Dataminr: preparation begins with visibility and innovation

T-Mobile has increased the speed and accuracy of its disaster response by integrating the AI-powered real-time alerting system from Dataminr into its Everbridge visual control center, the company's centralized hub for threat monitoring. This integration analyzes large volumes of public data, ranging from expert sources to news sites, to identify emerging events and deliver early warnings about severe weather conditions, infrastructure risks, and emergencies nationwide. This provides T-Mobile with faster threat visibility than before, allowing for quicker risk assessment and resource mobilization to respond in a more effective manner to protect network operations.

A respond response to emergencies is allowed by the new extra-large fleet, hybrid technology, and reinforced network.

T-Mobile has expanded its emergency fleet with new extra-large satellite resources: extra-large SatCOWs (mobile satellite cell sites) and extra-large SatCOLTs (satellite cell systems mounted on light trucks), which include automated deployment, 80- to 100-foot poles, and remote monitoring. These additions are boosting a national fleet of vehicles with satellite capability. New hybrid portable generators extend tower uptime with refueling, further supporting T-Mobile’s reinforced network, which includes coverage overlay, backup power, redundant backhaul paths, and rigorous tower maintenance.
Following Hurricanes Helene and Milton in October 2024, T-Mobile restored 99% of customer connectivity within 72 hours of each hurricane making landfall, twice as fast as previous hurricanes, deploying 600 emergency response team members and more than 800 generators. During the Southern California wildfires, 99% of network sites were restored within nine days of the ongoing emergency. Throughout that time, T-Mobile also provided critical equipment to emergency service members, as well as charging packages, hotspots, and free residential internet to anyone who needed it, not taking into account their phone company.

Priority connectivity for emergency personnel

T-Priority, T-Mobile's innovative solution for emergency service members provides improved network performance through a dedicated 5G network segment, offering up to five times more network resources than the average user. This ensures that emergency personnel on eligible plans experience reduced latency and faster, more consistent 5G speeds for their data-intensive communication tools, along with top-priority connectivity, even under highly congested conditions.

Learn more about T-Mobile's disaster preparedness and response efforts at https://www.t-mobile.com/news/emergency-response. Visit T-Mobile.com/news and follow @TMobileNews on X to stay up to date with the latest company news.