T-Mobile remain the only major carrier in the US that doesn’t officially offer its customers the Apple iPhone, which is certainly damaging the carrier with regards to subscriber numbers, but the company has announced that its network will be compatible with the iPhone later this year.

The company has also announced that it will be using the services of both Nokia-Siemens and Ericsson for its $4 billion 4G LTE network, and as Cnet are reporting the move will finally see the carrier have a more advanced 4G LTE network along with the possibility of offering the Apple iPhone.

T-Mobile are still feeling the after effects of its failed merger with T-Mobile, but the company is looking to turn its fortunes around in the wireless market, and the hiring of Ericsson and Nokia-Siemens to build a 4G LTE network will be a big step forward for the company.

The two companies have a good track record with the technology after working with Verizon Wireless amongst others, and T-Mobile has also announced that it secured spectrum from AT&T as part of the failed merger agreement. With the AT&T spectrum added to its own T-Mobile is looking to cover 75% of its top 25 markets with LTE.

The carrier does lack enough spectrum for a larger rollout of LTE though, but to fill the gap the company is focusing on its HSPA+ technology, which it believes is fast enough to be called 4G. T-Mobile is planning to use the 1900MHz spectrum for its upgraded HSPA+ network, and plans to have a number of its markets covered by the end of 2012.

Using the 1900MHz spectrum is important to T-Mobile as it allows the carrier to use unlocked iPhones on its 4G network, and even though the company doesn’t sell the iPhone there are a number of customers who take their unlocked handsets to the carrier, which unfortunately can’t make use of its fastest network because of spectrum incompatibility.

If the carrier has iPhone compatibility it may help the T-Mobile to agree a deal with Apple, and maybe offer the iPhone 5 when it is released later this year, and its HSPA+ network covers over 220 million people that allows T-mobile to boast of the largest 4G network in the US.

Would you consider an iPhone on the T-mobile once its new 4G LTE network is ready?