AT&T announced Dallas, Atlanta, and Waco as the first cities to have 5G mobile services.
American telecommunications carrier, AT&T, announced which cities will benefit from their ultra-fast 5G mobile services. The mobile network will reportedly be incorporated in Dallas, Atlanta, and Waco this year. More so, AT&T said that they will open a 5G innovation center and test lab in Austin.
“We are working with our vendors on an aggressive schedule to help ensure customers can enjoy 5G when we launch the network this year,” the company said.
The announcement comes after one month since AT&T pledged to offer mobile 5G services to 12 US cities by the end of 2018. An AT&T spokesperson said that the remaining nine cities will be announced “in the coming months”.
While AT&T initially announced to build a 5G network in 2017, the original technology that would have been used was a rebranding and deployment of existing LTE capabilities. The rebranding was called “5G Evolution”, however, the organization in charge of classifying 5G, called 3GPP signed off on official specifications for a true 5G mobile network in December.
According to the company, the 5G deployment will use the December-set non-standalone (NSA) 5G 3GPP standards.
The initial coverage will use millimeter wave spectrum before adding additional spectrum bands in the future.
AT&T senior vice president of Wireless Network Architecture and Design, Igal Elbaz, said that they have conducted multi-city trials, and prepared the chosen cities prior to a 5G roll-out. More so, the company claims to be the first carrier to deliver “standards-based mobile 5G”.
Other telecommunication carriers are also planning to release 5G mobile services in the United States, with Sprint eyeing a 2019 roll-out and T-Mobile set on a 2020 release. However, judging by AT&T’s increased efforts to provide national coverage, it’s safe to say that renown and revenue will go to the first carrier to implement 5G into its services.
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