5G in the USA: A Post-M&A Update

Sprint and T-Mobile's proposed $26.5 billion merger could change the anticipated 5G map in the US.

In this 5G update, we'll map out the 5G markets that have been announced to date from the four major carriers, as well as list what we know about the "NewCo" 5G plans if Sprint and T-Mobile do come together. Our map below represents the anticipated markets in each carrier's color.

Red flags indicate AT&T, blue for Verizon, magenta for T-Mobile and yellow for Sprint. Expand the map to see a larger version and the carriers' overlapping cities.

AT&T
What: Mobile 5G using the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G New Radio (NR) standard, with fixed 5G in trials
Where: Atlanta, Dallas, Waco and nine other unnamed markets
When: Late 2018
Frequencies: AT&T hasn't confirmed yet but 39GHz is widely rumored
Suppliers (known so far): Qualcomm
Devices: A mobile "puck"
Capex plan for 2018: $23 billion

For more:

Sprint
What: Mobile 5G using the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G New Radio (NR) standard
Where: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
When: First half of 2019
Frequencies: 2.5GHz
Suppliers (known so far): Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, Qualcomm
Devices: Smartphones
Capex plan for 2018: $5 billion-$6 billion

For more:

T-Mobile US
What: Mobile 5G using the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G New Radio (NR) standard
Where: Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York City and 26 other cities
When: 2019-2020
Frequencies: 600MHz, 28GHz, 39GHz
Suppliers (known so far): Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm
Devices: Smartphones
Capex plan for 2018: $4.9 billion-$5.3 billion

For more:

Verizon
What: Fixed 5G using its home-grown 5GTF spec first, with 5G using the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G New Radio (NR) standard as soon as possible afterwards
Where: Sacramento, with up to four more markets to follow in 2018
When: Second half of 2018
Frequencies: 28GHz
Suppliers (known so far): Ericsson, Samsung, Qualcomm
Devices: 5G customer premises equipment and home routers, smartphones (with mobile 5G)
Capex plan for 2018: $17 billion-$17.8 billion

For more:

The "new" T-Mobile (NewCo)
What: Mobile 5G using the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G New Radio (NR) standard
Where (known so far): TBD
When: 2019
Frequencies: 600MHz, 2.5GHz, 28GHz, 39GHz
Suppliers (known so far): TBD
Devices: Smartphones
Anticipated spending 5G upgrade spending plan: Up to $40 billion over three years with the deal expected to close in the first half of 2019.

For more:

What does this mean in the real world?
Expect to see commercial demos of initial fixed 5G deployments in the fall timeframe, with launch to follow soon after. Mobile 5G will still wait for the arrival of smartphones in the first half of 2019. (See America: A Tale of at Least Two 5Gs.)

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading