AT&T Launches First 5G Network Trial in the US

AT&T Launches First 5G Network Trial in the US
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While mobile traffic and data consumption has been growing in leaps and bounds- driven by factors like the spread of mobile video and live video streaming – we’re still noticeably stuck with 4G networks. Though we may be a few years away from multi-gigabit cellular speeds, US wireless carriers have been ramping up their efforts in the race to launch the first full-scale 5G network. Today, AT&T announced that it made some headway in this department, with the first 5G business customer trial in the US.

AT&T teamed up with semiconductor producer Intel and telecom equipment manufacturer Ericsson to conduct a public 5G demo featuring streaming 4K HD video, real-time camera feeds and reaching speeds of nearly 14 gigabits per second. The test will last around one month and will take place in Intel’s Austin campus.

“This trial is a significant step forward. We’re leaving the lab and heading into the field with a real-world business customer,” said Rick Hubbard, AT&T senior vice president for networking product management.

The 5G network, powered by Intel’s millimeter-wave technology, will have a radius of approximately 300 meters and is projected to achieve speeds of over 1 gigabit per second. Thanks to the trial, Intel’s office will enjoy perks like high-speed Internet connectivity, VPN, 4K video streams, and unified communications applications. AT&T also announced that the test would be conducted over the 15GHz spectrum band and 28 GHz spectrum band, a high-frequency band which the FCC opened up for 5G earlier this year.

“The future of video is mobile. And the future of mobile is video,” said Tom Keathley, senior vice president, wireless network architecture and design, AT&T. “With our 5G and 4G LTE advancements, we expect speeds rivaling what we see from cable providers. Our path to 5G will help make this vision a reality faster.”

Featured Image: DAVIDSON
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