T-Mobile has begun rolling out its nationwide 4G LTE, launching the new mobile broadband service in seven cities this week. The provider is expected to launch in more locations soon. While CEO John Legere calls the network “smoking fast,” it remains to be seen how T-Mobile’s offering will compete in the expanding 4G marketplace. However, since T-Mobile is relatively late to the market, it may have some advantages.

“Since the network just went online and it doesn’t have an established user base, it will be several months before we start seeing reliable figures from testing companies like RootMetrics or OpenSignal, but we can get an idea of how T-Mobile’s network will perform based on what we know about the spectrum and the technology it’s using,” reports GigaOM.

“No two LTE networks are created equal, and T-Mobile has some advantages that will help its 4G service outpace its competitors,” the article notes.

Because the company is comparatively behind in delivering its 4G service, it may have an advantage over other offerings. “By virtue of its dallying, T-Mobile is deploying the latest-generation Ericsson and Nokia Siemens base station gear,” explains the article. “T-Mobile is fond of calling its network ‘LTE-Advanced ready,’ and though the term really is just a marketing conceit, there’s a bit of truth in those words. LTE is an iterative technology that improves over time. Because of its relative newness, T-Mobile’s infrastructure will be able to take new LTE upgrades more easily and more cheaply, and as device technology improves, T-Mobile will be able to support next-generation radio chipsets sooner.”

The bottom line for T-Mobile’s success will involve delivering data fast and cheap to as many users as possible. “The more data T-Mobile can deliver to a large subset of users, the cheaper it can make data pricing. And making data cheaper is one of the main ways T-Mobile is setting itself apart from the competition,” suggests GigaOM.