Verizon’s 5G network won’t be viable for mobile use for quite some time, but it will be a viable alternative to traditional home internet options in coverage areas. As part of their plan to encourage customers to switch to their 5G service, Verizon plans to bundle TV service via AppleTV or YouTube TV – similar to “double play” subscriptions offered by Comcast and other providers.
Last year Ericsson launched their Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) Design Center in Austin, Texas, to develop and test core microelectronics for 5G radio base stations, and now they are announcing plans for a new software development center to be launched later this year. The new location will employ 200 developers and will focus on baseband development.
Ericsson is also committed to continuing research and development for products in the US. “Ericsson will recruit a dedicated team to work specifically on introducing products for the US market, conducting production engineering, testing/integration, and supply preparations on early prototypes. This will be done in close collaboration with US-based R&D resources,” the company explained.
Samsung has revealed plans to invest $22 billion to further development in fields outside the smartphone and electronics markets on which they currently focus, dedicated funds to other fields like AI and 5G wireless. In a press release, they explained that the investment will help the company meet the “significant new demand from applications in AI, 5G, data centers and automotive electronics.”
Since moving forward with their merger with Sprint, T-Mobile has made it very clear that they are enormously committed to an aggressive 5G development plan. CEO John Legere confirmed that the rollout will being with 30 cities receiving 5G in 2018, including major markets New York and Los Angeles, with a commercial launch in 2019 and nationwide coverage by 2020.
AT&T has promised to bring 5G to 12 cities in the US this year, and the latest three markets due to receive 5G were announced today: Charlotte, Raleigh and Oklahoma City. Earlier this year they announced that service would be brought to Dallas, Atlanta and Waco; additional cities are expected to be announced as the year progresses.
“5G will be more than just a better network,” AT&T technology and operations president Melissa Arnoldi said. “We believe 5G will ultimately create a world of new economic opportunity, greater mobility, and smarter connectivity for individuals, businesses and society as a whole.”
C Spire, a regional carrier operating in Mississippi, has begun offering what they’re marketing as a 5G fixed wireless service that can provide speeds of 120mbps. While they’re using the 5G term, though, C Spire’s service doesn’t utilize the true 3GPP 5G standards. C Spire is using an 802.11 variant and operating on sub-6 Ghz and 60 GHz spectrum to provide the service, and users need to install a “dinner plate” sized antenna to receive it.
“It’s a big deal for consumers and businesses in Mississippi,” said a C Spire spokesman. “We’re really serious about massive deployment of broadband in our footprint.” The spokesman also indicated that they will continue to study the 3GPP standards for 5G and may move in that direction as they continue research and development.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced two spectrum auctions, planned to begin in November, that will contribute to the development of 5G. According to Pai’s blog, the FCC will vote in its August 2 meeting to conduct a November 2018 auction of spectrum in the 28 GHz band, to be followed soon after by an auction for the 24 GHz bands. These high frequency bands are critical for 5G, thanks to their capacity to deliver data and traffic more quickly and efficiently than lower frequencies.
“5G has the potential to have an enormously positive impact on American consumers,” Pai said in a statement to USA TODAY. “High-speed, high-capacity wireless connectivity will unleash new innovations to improve our quality of life. It’s the building block to a world where everything that can be connected will be connected – where driverless cars talk to smart transportation networks and where wireless sensors can monitor your health and transmit data to your doctor. That’s a snapshot of what the 5G world will look like.”
The FCC has awarded an experimental radio license to AT&T for the purpose of testing standards-based 5G at the convention center in Austin, Texas. Per their application, AT&T will run three 28GHz fixed base stations, with connections to six compatible user devices at up to 100 meters. To show off the real-world capabilities of 5G, they’ll demonstrate 4K TV, mobile gaming, and more.
The Austin test project is due to launch in late July.
AT&T has progressed from field and lab trials to trialing their 5G fixed-wireless service to several residences in South Bend, Indiana. The results thus far are proving 5G’s capabilities, with one household reporting speeds of 1Gbps and latency under 20ms – performance that exceeds traditional home internet options and blows 4G out of the water. As president of AT&T Technology and Operations Melissa Arnoldi explained, this type of performance allows customers to use “bandwidth-heavy applications simultaneously and seamlessly — something that would be nearly impossible with current LTE technologies”.
AT&T’s 5G plans will continue in 2018 and 2019, with the first three large-scale rollouts planned for Dallas, Atlanta, and Waco.
Countries around the world have focused on harmonizing the 3.5GHz spectrum for 5G use on an international basis, but outdated regulations on that spectrum could impede the use of it in the U.S.
The current regulations were created under the assumption that the 3.5GHz spectrum would be used like Wi-Fi, with businesses or manufacturers and utilities installing antennas to facilitate private wireless networks, so licenses for 3.5GHz use are assigned using Census Tracks – which only cover a small area. The FCC and the mobile industry agree that assigning licenses based on Census Tracks would be entirely unfeasible for 5G deployments, and regulations will have to be changed to make 3.5GHz a realistic part of the path to 5G.
