AT&T’s mobile 5G is coming ‘in the next few weeks’

AT&T is weeks away from its launch of mobile 5G, said the company’s top wireless executive. “AT&T is on track to be the first wireless carrier to introduce mobile 5G services in the United States in the next few weeks. This will be standards-based 5G,” said AT&T’s John Donovan, the chief executive of the company’s mobility business, during the company’s quarterly conference call with analysts. Donovan reiterated AT&T’s previously announced launch plans: The carrier will launch mobile 5G services using the 3GPP’s 5G standard in “parts” of a dozen cities before the end of this year and will expand that launch to additional cities next year. He said the efforts were part of a “drive toward nationwide coverage of our 5G network,” though he did not say when AT&T would offer nationwide 5G services. Donovan explained that AT&T’s 5G service will leverage work the company has already conducted, including the buildout of its fiber network. "Fiber is the backbone of 5G,” Donovan said, noting that AT&T will pass 18 million customer locations with its fiber network this year, on its way to passing fully 22 million locations with fiber by next year. In locations where AT&T does not own fiber, the company will likely use fiber services of another provider like Zayo. Further, Donovan said that the operator’s mobile 5G service will sit alongside the company’s existing LTE network, which is also undergoing significant upgrades. AT&T has branded its LTE network upgrades as “5G Evolution,” and Donovan said the upgrades to LTE will be in place in 400 markets by the end of this year and nationwide by the middle of next year. He said those upgrades will support peak LTE speeds of 400 Mbps, in part through the application of LTE LAA technology, which he said would be launched in “parts” of two dozen cities by the end of this year.