5G in the USA: A Post-MWCA Update

Following Mobile World Congress Americas last week, a clearer picture of how early 5G in the US will evolve has emerged, especially now that Verizon's fixed "5G Home" service is due this October.

Basically, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) will start with its fixed, millimeter wave (mmWave) non-standard 5G next month. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is going mobile with 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard, 5G NR, later this year. Both operators will go for 5G speed over range with mmWave. (See Millimeter Wave 5G: The Usain Bolt of Wireless?)

Meanwhile, Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) and T-Mobile US Inc. are going for range over maximum speed. More frequencies to deploy 5G will emerge for the pair, if the proposed $26.5 billion merger is approved. (See Piecing Together the 5G Big Picture and FCC Halts Sprint/T-Mobile M&A Review.)

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So let's take a look at the newest map and the stats:

Blue flags indicate AT&T, red 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 Inc. (NYSE: T)
What: Mobile 5G using the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G New Radio (NR) standard.
Where: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville, Oklahoma City, Orlando, New Orleans, Raleigh, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Waco.
When: Late 2018-2019.
Frequencies: Millimeter wave.
Suppliers (known so far): Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung.
Devices: A mobile "puck" 5G "hotspot."
Anticipated download speeds: 1 Gbit/s (fixed, per trials).
Capex plan for 2018:$22 billion (anticipated).

For more:

• AT&T Adds New 5G Cities, Names Infrastructure Vendors
  
• AT&T Adds Trio of New Cities for 5G Launch in 2018
  
• AT&T's BCE Keynote: 5G & SDN Worlds Colliding

Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S)
What: Mobile 5G using the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G New Radio (NR) standard.
Where: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles New York City, Phoenix and Washington, D.C.
When: First half of 2019.
Frequencies: 2.5GHz.
Suppliers (known so far): Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, Qualcomm.
Devices: Smartphones.
Anticipated download speeds: 250-300 Mbit/s (mobile).
Capex plan for 2018: $5-6 billion.

For more:

• Slideshow: Behind the Scenes at Sprint's 5G 'Split'
  
• Sprint Teams Up with Cox to Boost Spectrum With Fiber
  
• Sprint Says No to mmWave, Yes to Mobile 5G

T-Mobile US Inc.
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.
Anticipated download speeds: 100-200 Mbit/s (mobile).
Capex plan for 2018: $4.9-5.3 billion.

For more:

• Nokia Reels In $3.5B 5G Deal With T-Mobile US
  
• T-Mobile to Roll Out 5G in 30 US Cities in 2018
  
• T-Mobile Promises 'Nationwide' 5G in 2020 With New Spectrum

Verizon Wireless
What: Fixed 5G using its home-grown 5GTF spec first, with mobile 5G using the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5G New Radio (NR) standard in early 2019.
Where: Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Sacramento.
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).
Anticipated download speeds: 300 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s (fixed).
Capex plan for 2018: $17-17.8 billion.

For more:

• Verizon to Launch Fixed 5G Service on Oct. 1
• Verizon Reveals Third 5G City, as Revenue Climbs 5.4% in Q2
• Ericsson & Samsung to Supply Verizon With Fixed 5G Gear

What does this mean in the real world?
Even as 5G arrives in the US, 2019 will be the real foundation year for 5G stateside, as operators try to deliver in early markets, and establish revenue models for the new network technology.

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading