Field tests are slated to begin next year.
By Raif Karerat
Verizon, the United States’ largest wireless carrier, announced Tuesday that it will begin field testing the nation’s first 5G network next year, half-a-decade after becoming the first carrier to offer 4G.
The U.S.-based titan of telecom is aiming to have some part of its 5G network available for public consumption by 2017, far ahead of the 2020 date most of the wireless industry had been targeting, according to CNN Money.
According to Verizon 5G will deliver up to about 50 times the throughput of current 4G LTE, with latency down to the single milliseconds. To put 5G in context, it’s faster than Google Fiber and will theoretically let you to download a full-length Hollywood blockbuster in seconds, reported USA Today.
“5G is no longer a dream of the distant future,” said Roger Gurnani, chief information and technology architect for Verizon, in a prepared statement. “We feel a tremendous sense of urgency to push forward on 5G … to usher in a new generation of innovation.”
Verizon’s initial 5G tests will take place at two of its research labs, where it will be working with Samsung, Nokia, Qualcomm, Cisco, Ericsson, and Alcatel-Lucent on the technologies needed to support 5G’s faster data speeds, reported The Verge.
Verizon is not the only company pushing hard toward a 5G future. As CNET reported, South Korea is pushing to deploy a 5G wireless network in time for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018, with Japan hoping its own higher speed network will be in place two years later when the Summer Games are held in Tokyo.