http://www.zdnet.com/article/at-t-5g-coming-to-dallas-atlanta-waco-in-2018/?loc=newsletter_featured_related_listing&ftag=TRE-03-10aaa6b&bhid=24728584684180976123116719441341
AT&T 5G coming to Dallas, Atlanta, Waco in 2018
Dallas, Atlanta, and Waco will be the first cities to receive 5G services in
2018 under AT&T, with the carrier also launching a new test lab in Austin to
trial its proprietary 5G technology.
By Corinne Reichert | February 21, 2018 -- 05:00 GMT (21:00 PST) | Topic:
Mobility
AT&T has announced that Dallas, Atlanta, and Waco will be the first cities
across the United States to receive its 5G services, with the carrier also
opening a 5G innovation centre and test lab in Austin.
"We are working with our vendors on an aggressive schedule to help ensure
customers can enjoy 5G when we launch the network this year. We will add more
5G-capable mobile devices and smartphones in early 2019 and beyond," the
company said.
For the 5G deployments, AT&T said it would be using the non-standalone (NSA) 5G
3GPP standards set in December, and will deploy it over millimetre-wave
(mmWave) spectrum before adding additional spectrum bands in future.
"After significantly contributing to the first phase of 5G standards,
conducting multi-city trials, and literally transforming our network for the
future, we're planning to be the first carrier to deliver standards-based
mobile 5G -- and do it much sooner than most people thought possible," AT&T
senior vice president of Wireless Network Architecture and Design Igal Elbaz
said.
"What this means for our customers in these cities is that they will be the
very first to access this next generation of wireless services."
AT&T, which has also announced a partnership with Ericsson for professional
services capabilities for Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, said it will be
announcing additional 5G cities for 2018 over the next few months.
The carrier added that it is "aggressively" aiming to virtualise 75 percent of
its network by 2020.
"The experience we've gained by leading the industry transformation to network
virtualisation and software control will help our customers to get the most out
of 5G. Ultimately, this means new experiences with augmented reality and
virtual reality (AR/VR), future autonomous cars, and delivery drones," the
carrier added.
"In order for these experiences to become reality, you need mobile 5G powered
by SDN and edge computing. We're making the cloud smarter, faster, and local."
Its new 5G lab in Austin, meanwhile, will enable the carrier to conduct further
tests on standards-based 5G including what it called Advanced 5G NR Testbed
Systems (ANTS).
"The lab will be where our engineers can build and test creative solutions and
run 'stress tests' simulating real-world customer experiences with mobile 5G
network equipment and devices from multiple vendors before they are rolled out
to customers. This lab is also equipped with an outdoor 5G testbed to trial a
variety of 5G applications and real-world use cases," AT&T explained.
"ANTS is a first-of-its kind 5G testbed system, and is proprietary to AT&T.
ANTS will let us test unique and forward-looking features on a simulated 5G
network for eventual standardisation and use on our commercial network. By
re-creating a physical 5G radio environment in our labs, we have greater
control over what is deployed to customers.
"Technologies like ANTS will let us add advanced 5G capabilities to our network
beyond baselines set by standards."
AT&T had last month announced that it will be providing 5G services in around
12 markets by late 2018.
AT&T's 5G Evolution network, which involves the use of 4G-Advanced technology,
has been deployed in 23 metro areas: Atlanta, Georgia; Austin, San Antonio, and
Houston, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; Hartford and Bridgeport, Connecticut;
Buffalo, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco,
Sacramento, and Fresno, California; Greenville, South Carolina; Indianapolis,
Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans,
Louisiana; Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
"While we are rolling out mobile 5G in 2018, we also plan to continue to
enhance our network with 5G Evolution technology in hundreds of additional
metro areas," the mobile carrier said in January.
"We will give you more options to access our latest wireless network offers by
making additional 5G Evolution-capable devices available throughout the year."
AT&T had in December kicked off its biggest 5G trial network in Waco, Texas,
using mmWave spectrum and 5G radio and antenna prototypes after announcing in
August that it would expand its 5G trials to three more cities by the end of
2017 in Waco, as well as in South Bend, Indiana, and Kalamazoo, Michigan.
For those three trial networks, AT&T is using Ericsson's 28GHz radios,
virtualised RAN (vRAN), and full 5G virtualised core; Intel's 5G mobile trial
platform; Samsung's 5G router, 5G RFIC chipset, virtualised core, and vRAN; and
Nokia's 5G equipment and solutions.
AT&T launched its 5G Evolution upgrade on its network in Austin, Texas in June,
followed by Indianapolis, Indiana, in July.
At the end of December, AT&T also combined with Ericsson on 5G NR
interoperability trials.
The trials also included T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint, along with Australian
mobile carrier Telstra; Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo; Korean carrier SK Telecom;
and European carriers Vodafone and Orange.
The live lab demonstrations saw the companies utilise the 3.6GHz and mmWave
28GHz spectrum frequencies using Ericsson's pre-commercial 5G base stations and
Qualcomm's 5G NR UE prototypes.
