5G is the buzzword of the year for 2019. Samsung made waves when it announced at its Unpacked event that their next flagship phone, the Galaxy S10 will be 5G capable. At that same event, they also announced that Verizon will have a short-term exclusive on that phone when it first launches. In conjunction with that, Verizon has said that they will be rolling out 5G services in 30 US cities during 2019.
Verizon has already launched home broadband 5G services in several cities across the country including Los Angeles, Houston, Indianapolis and Sacramento. These 30 cities will be in addition to those, though the wireless company has not yet said which cities the new services will be coming to.
While a specific timeline is not yet available, Verizon has said that they will be turning on their mobile 5G services during the first half of 2019. In the latter half of the year Verizon will be expanding their home 5G services to more cities.
At this point it is undeniable that 5G is the immediate future of wireless services. Verizon is already launching their network, but those who follow the space know that DISH Network is poised to become a major player.
DISH currently owns the most spectrum out of anyone. DISH’s leader Charlie Ergen has made it clear many times that they plan to use that spectrum to launch a 5G network of their own. Since the company is under a tight FCC deadline to utilize that spectrum, consumers can expect to see that network launching in the near future.
Of course, it is entirely possible that DISH does not meet the FCC deadline, in which case they will be forced to forfeit all of their spectrum holdings. If that does happen, it won’t be long before another company snaps up that spectrum and launches a 5G network of their own. Either way, 5G services will become mainstream in the very near future.
Sources:
https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/21/verizon-5g-network-cities-2019/?sr_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR38KmdYSyyXQsL-LX-2_4pJwvJFXCOs99e-4std9myfOwtzewSp44VG3cc
