Author: Maureen

During his keynote address at the Oppenheimer technology, internet, and communications conference, Verizon consumer EVP Ronan Dunne spoke out on T-Mobile’s recent accusation that Verizon lacks strategy for their 5G development. “The first thing to understand is not all 5G is created equal,” he said, explaining “the broader the bandwidth you have, the available spectrum bandwidth you have, the more of the features and capabilities of 5G that you can enable.” 

Dunne further explained that because carriers like T-Mobile are utilizing mid-band spectrum (which is better for penetration and provides good coverage but doesn’t offer the speeds that millimeter wave can provide), in many places 5G will be more like “good 4G service.” Verizon is using millimeter wave in urban areas but will use mid-band spectrum in outlying areas.

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Existing 5G networks are based on the Nonstandalone version of 5G New Radio, which utilize carriers’ LTE networks as their backbone. T-Mobile plans to introduce Standalone 5G, which, as its name implies, will operate completely independently of existing 4G technology, in 2020. This week they announced that they successfully tested SA 5G in their Bellevue, Washington lab, the first test of its kind in the US.

“This major 5G breakthrough is another example of how the T-Mobile engineering team continues to innovate and drive the entire industry forward,” said Neville Ray, T-Mobile US CTO, in a statement. Ray added that the test “marks a giant leap forward in realizing the true potential of 5G with new services, ultra-low latency, and even greater coverage and capacity than existing networks.”

5G SA network launches are expected to start in China in the second half of this year, but at the moment testing is confined primarily to labs in the US.

Although 5G has only just started launching around the country, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg predicts that by next year 5G will be accessible to phone users in half the country. “I think we will have [phones running on 5G in 50% of the country] by next year. It is a functionality called DSS, dynamic spectrum sharing, where basically it’s agnostic to what type of phone you have,” said Vestberg.

Vestberg also reiterated Verizon’s previous statement that by 2024 half the population will own a 5G-capable phone. He also noted, however, that 4G is still a powerful technology that will continue to be used for years while 5G is built out. “Don’t forget that 4G is an extremely powerful technology as well and we need to cater to all our customers with the best network that we have,” he said.

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Apple announced today that they have acquired the majority of Intel’s smartphone modem business for $1 billion. Adding Intel’s patents to Apple’s existing ones will give them over 17,000 wireless technology patents related to everything from cellular standards to modem architecture and modem operation.

Acquiring Intel’s modem business will give Apple access to the technology needed to develop 5G-capable smartphones, a hot topic this year as well as affording Intel the opportunity to focus more of their efforts on 5G as well. “This agreement enables us to focus on developing technology for the 5G network while retaining critical intellectual property and modem technology that our team has created,” said Intel CEO Bob Swan. “…We’re looking forward to putting our full effort into 5G where it most closely aligns with the needs of our global customer base, including network operators, telecommunications equipment manufacturers and cloud service providers.”

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Verizon has launched their long-awaited first 5G-capable hotspot, the MiFi M1000 by Inseego. The M1000 will run customers $649.99 outright, or $499.99 with a 2-year contract. The 5G data service itself is also quite costly – 5G data is available with Verizon’s unlimited plan for $90 per month, or if you already have an unlimited plan on a Smartphone, you can add service for the 5G MiFi for an extra $30/month. Either way, you’ll get 50GB of 5G at top speeds, after which you’ll be throttled to 3Mbps.

China has invested heavily in 5G research and development, and many leaders in the US want to make 5G more of a priority in order to better compete. Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul has introduced a bill that would push the Secretary of State to utilize existing State Department funding to increase the “representation and leadership” of the U.S. with the international telecommunication organizations that set 5G standards.

“China’s majority control of the world’s 5G networks, interconnected devices and cloud storage is a risk we cannot accept,” McCaul told Reuters. “We have to show up and compete with them.”

The Defense Innovation Board recently released a report indicating that China is well ahead of the US in 5G development. “The country that owns 5G will own many of these innovations and set the standards for the rest of the world,” the report stated. “That country is currently not likely to be the United States.”

Verizon’s 5G network may have just launched this year, but they have been planning for it for years. The company started their first prep for 5G over 5 years ago when they made the decision to expand on their own fiber network so that it could eventually be used for backhaul for 5G, eliminating the need to make deals with other fiber owners to utilize their fiber lines. Efforts were made to buy up existing fiber where available, and then they began building out their own fiber lines where needed, a project called One Fiber.

“Back in 2015 is kind of when we kicked off the idea of One Fiber,” said Verizon VP of technology planning and development Kevin N. Smith. Four years later, the program has reached 60 American cities and involves as much as $30 million in monthly spending.

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In a report prepared for the US Department of Defense, the Defense Innovation Board indicated that China is well ahead of the US in 5G development. “The country that owns 5G will own many of these innovations and set the standards for the rest of the world,” the report stated. “That country is currently not likely to be the United States.”

China has invested billions into 5G research and development and is dedicated to building out massive networks over the next few years. “Globally, China’s large manufacturers (Huawei and ZTE) are pushing 5G deployment through commercial sales of 5G-enabling equipment and devices primarily for non-standalone networks, and Huawei has already shipped upwards of 10,000 base stations overseas,” the report noted.

Huawei, who is at the forefront of China’s 5G development, is currently considered a security thread in the US and is effectively blacklisted.

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T-Mobile has launched their 5G network in 5 cities now, and of course the world wants to know how it compares to the 5G networks launched by other US carriers. Both Verizon and T-Mobile are utilizing high-frequency millimeter wave for their currently-launched cities, which provides amazing speeds but poor coverage. Early adopters of Verizon’s 5G service have reported results that match up with those limitations: the speeds are extremely fast, but coverage drops off very quickly as you move away from the source and in buildings.

To help with those coverage challenges, T-Mobile will be utilizing their 600MHz spectrum network in conjunction with the the high-frequency bands. The lower frequencies penetrate much better for greater coverage, but can’t provide the download speeds that millimeter wave facilitates.

Testers in New York and Chicago have confirmed that T-Mobile’s speeds are about half that of Verizon’s (although still an enormous leap beyond LTE), but that coverage does seem to be better. This tradeoff is something that users will have to consider as the carriers continue to build out their networks.

AT&T has officially expanded their 5G service to Las Vegas. However, like other cities they’ve deployed, 5G service in Las Vegas is currently limited to business customers and select developers only.

Business customers in Las Vegas can sign up for the Business Unlimited Preferred plan for $90 a month, and two 5G-capable devices are available: the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G smartphone and the NETGEAR Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot.

Testers in Las Vegas are reporting speeds upwards of 1gbps on the Samsung Galaxy 5G, making AT&T’s Las Vegas 5G networks one of the fastest yet.