Australian carrier Telstra has switched on 5G technology across selected areas of the Gold Coast. The operator plans to launch more than 200 5G-capable sites around the country by the end of 2018.
Nokia and T-Mobile have inked a $3.5 billion agreement to accelerate the deployment of a nationwide 5G network. Nokia will provide T-Mobile with its complete end-to-end 5G technology, software, and services portfolio.
AT&T plans to offer 5G services to customers in a dozen cities this year and is adding Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C. and Oklahoma City as the next three identified cities for its 5G plan. These cities join previously announced cities of Dallas, Atlanta, and Waco.
Nokia and dtac are deploying the commercial 4G TDD network in Thailand. Once completed, dtac TURBO users on the 2300 MHz spectrum operated in cooperation with TOT will get superior mobile broadband speeds. The network is being deployed in the Northeast, North and South of Thailand, including major provinces such as Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, and Phuket.
Finnish operator Elisa has announced the launch of commercial 5G network and has started selling 5G subscriptions. The company has started 5G services in Tampere and Tallinn. The operator is claiming to be the first operator to launch 5G services across the globe.
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.