T-Mobile will start 5G tests with Ericsson and Nokia in the US in the second half of this year but don't expect net-gen mobile services from the carrier until compatible handsets arrive in the 2020 timeframe.
Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) and Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) are working with T-Mobile US Inc. to set up field and lab trials on pre-5G 28GHz test systems later this year. T-Mobile said last week that it would start initial 5G trials this year. (See T-Mobile Joins 5G Trial Races With Ericsson.)
"We'll be on a direct path to 5G service once 5G consumer smartphones and standards are available in the 2020+ timeframe," T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray said in a statement Tuesday.
The CTO has been consistent in sticking to the 2020-or-beyond timeframe for commercial deployment even as Verizon Wireless started to claim it will launch initial 5G services in the US in 2017. Ray blasted that claim as "total B.S." last week. (See T-Mobile CEO Slams Verizon's 5G Claims.)
Nonetheless, of the big four US mobile carriers, only Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) has yet to announce its 5G trial plans.
— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading
Ericsson and Nokia's definition of 5G is different from FCC and Koreans.
Europeans define 5G as an IoT optimized low-power/low-latency data transmission standard serviced in traditional LTE band good for IoT and industrial use. They do have mmwave band 5G plans, but this isn't due for another 10 years.
FCC and Koreans define 5G as multi-Gbits/s bandwidth delivering high-power/low-latency data transmission standard serviced in mmWave band 28 Ghz and above scheduled to enter commercial service by 2020.
So when Ericsson and Nokia speak of 5G, this is not necessarily the same thing as what FCC is talking about.