AT&T has confirmed it plans to begin 5G testing in the second quarter of the year. The US telco will collaborate with Ericsson and Intel, with outdoor trials expected to start over the summer and field trials before the end of the year. AT&T expects 5G to deliver speeds up to 100 times faster than 4G connections.
AT&T (NYSE:T) has confirmed it plans to begin 5G testing in the second quarter of the year. It will collaborate with Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), with outdoor trials expected to start over the summer.
Following news earlier this month that the AT&T had applied to the FCC for a licence to carry out tests for 5G fixed and mobile services, the US telco unveiled its ‘5G roadmap’, saying it expects 5G to deliver speeds between 10 and 100 times faster than average 4G connections.
While AT&T Labs has been working on 5G-related technologies for years and filed dozens of patents in connection with them, it will begin work with Swedish equipment maker Ericsson and US semiconductor manufacturer Intel in its labs in Q2. The outdoor tests and trials over the summer are expected to be followed by field trials in Austin before the end of the year. These will involve using 5G technologies to provide wireless connectivity to fixed locations.
“The trials will help guide our 5G standards contributions, and set the stage for widespread commercial and mobile availability once technology standards for 5G are established,” the Dallas-based company said.
AT&T chief strategy officer and group president John Donovan stressed that 5G will help power new technologies such as virtual reality, robotics and smart cities.
“5G will reach its full potential because we will build it on a software-centric architecture that can adapt quickly to new demands and give customers more control of their network services,” he said. “Our approach is simple – deliver a unified experience built with 5G, software-defined networking (SDN), Big Data, security and open source software.”
The telco said it aims to launch 5G services commercially once 5G technology standards are set. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the international standards body tasked with setting them, is expected to complete the first phase of the process in 2018.
Rival operator Verizon announced last September that it intended to begin 5G tests in 2016.
