3GPP has announced the completion of the standalone (SA) Release 15, 5G specifications paving the way for 5G commercialization. Earlier in Dec. 2017, 3GPP has released the 5G NR specifications for non-standalone (NSA) operation. 

Huawei and NTT DOCOMO have announced the successful completion of  Integrated Access Backhaul (IAB) technology trial using the 39GHz millimeter wave (mmWave) band as part of on-going 5G tests.

Verizon plans to deploy 5G technology in Los Angeles starting in the fourth quarter of 2018. Los Angeles is the second city Verizon has identified as part of its 3-5 market 5G deployment plans, first announced in November 2017. Verizon previously announced Sacramento would be a 5G city.

Nokia and SFR have announced the successful completion of a 5G call, using the 3GPP-compliant 5G New Radio (NR) system over-the-air on the 3.5GHz frequency band. The test took place on  May 3rd, 2018, at the Nokia 5G Test Network and Competence Center in Paris-Saclay, France.

As part of 5G Evolution strategy, AT&T continues to evolve it's LTE network and has announced  117 new markets which will have theoretical peak speeds of up to 400 megabits per second for capable devices using  LTE Advanced features like 256 QAM, 4x4 MIMO, and 3-way carrier aggregation. 

China Unicom and Huawei have signed an agreement on 5G network slicing to jointly carry out research, demonstration, and application of 5G network slicing. Network slicing is a key native capability of 5G, which can maximize the efficiency of communications networks and reduce network construction and O&M costs. 

AT&T has released some ongoing 5G trial details earlier this week. The company had started enterprise 5G trial in Austin, Texas more than a year ago to explore mmWave and testing 5G equipment and later expanded 5G trials to more places in Waco, Texas, Kalamazoo, Michigan and South Bend, Indiana.

UK's telecom regulator Ofcom has released the outcome of the principal stage of its 4G, 5G spectrum auction. EE, Telefónica, Vodafone came out as big winners. Ofcom has been running an auction of spectrum in two frequency bands: 2.3 GHz, which is usable by current 4G mobile and 3.4 GHz, which is one of the spectrum bands earmarked for 5G.

Cisco and it's partners aim to create a UK government funded complete end-to-end rural 5G testbed system for trials of new wireless and networking technologies, spectrum sharing, new applications and services with a focus on testing and demonstrating approaches for ensuring that 5G connectivity is accessible and affordable in hard-to-reach rural areas. 

Ofcom has begun 5G auction for mobile broadband and future 5G services, earlier this week. Five companies are taking part in the auction to bid for available spectrum in two frequency bands.

Airspan Networks has announced AutoAir, a 5G testbed for connected and autonomous vehicles as part UK’s £25M 5G digital strategy. The company is part of “AutoAir” consortium, a neutral host based small cell solution for transportation networks in the UK.

Huawei collaborated with NTT DOCOMO and TOBU RAILWAY in 5G system trial at TOKYO SKYTREE TOWN as part of 5G Field Trials initiated by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan (MIC).

Singtel in partnership with Ericsson has rolled out a nationwide commercial cellular Internet of Things (IoT) network in Singapore. This advanced mobile network technology will help accelerate the proliferation of IoT devices by offering the best coverage, power efficient and cost-effective solutions to enterprises.