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AT&T might be first US carrier to deliver true 5G, coming “late 2018”
July 18, 2025
Following the 5G NR (new radio) hardware guidelinesrecently delivered by the 3GPP, AT&T has said that it will begin to roll out its 5G network based on the spec in late 2018. AT&T announced the news in apress release(viaEngadget), stating that the service would be in a dozen cities by the end of this year, giving general consumers access to the faster mobile internet speeds it provides.
There’s a good chance AT&T will have this ready ahead of the other major US carriers, too: Sprint said that its 5G network would be readyby late 2019, while T-Mobile has said it will be up and running starting 2019 with nationwide coverageby 2020.
It seems like Verizon, AT&T’s major rival, is the only carrier that could come out ahead. Verizon has alsopromisedto deliver 5G in the second half of 2018, kicking off in Sacramento, California and rolling out to between three and five cities before 2019. While this indicates that Verizon could have 5G launched anytime from this July onwards, it’s still up in the air until we get more specific timeframes.
Meanwhile, AT&T also said it will continue to work on its 5G Evolution network (based on 4G technologies) throughout this year. The carrier said it will bring this to “hundreds of additional metro areas” and have more 5G Evolution-capable devices available throughout 2018.
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