A recent announcement from AT&T gives us one of the first major news of the year right in its first week that 5G is to arrive by late 2018, and the network service provider wants to be the pioneer in the rollout, starting with the U.S.
The company is indeed on a spree of building the 5G hype presently and has been rolling out ‘5G Evolution’ networks. But according to experts, these networks are ‘not actually 5G,’ although they can provide faster data speeds than AT&T’s existing 4G. The technology used for these networks is derived from the existing LTE Advanced networks deployed by other carriers recently. The 5G Evolution rollout has been experienced by 23 major markets, including Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and more.
Coming back to the actual 5G offering, it will be based on industry standards with the few-weeks-old approval of 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project). It will use the low-frequency spectrum (600Hz and 700Hz), mid-frequency spectrum (3.5GHz), and high-frequency spectrum (50GHz). A combination of these spectrums together will provide a faster experience on the whole.
Melissa Arnoldi, President of AT&T Technology and Operations, said: “With faster speeds and ultra-low latency, 5G will ultimately deliver and enhance experiences like virtual reality, future driverless cars, immersive 4K video and more.”
Well, the past few years have seen companies trying to create foundations for ‘super-fast’ 5G. Most of that is buying newly freed networks, like the recently launched Gigabit LTE network. Meanwhile, AT&T has a broader view on the offering; alongside providing 5G to consumers, it will further start deployment tests of 5G for businesses as well, to make the experience as seamless as possible.
Apart from AT&T, Verizon has planned an inceptive rollout by this year, and T-Mobile said that it will begin its 5G technology during 2020.
There is no confirmed date as of now for the releases, but stay tuned with us to get the next update on this. In the meantime, share with us in comments below if you really can’t wait to get your hands on 5G data speeds!
