AT&T(NYSE: T), facing pressure from an increasingly competitive wireless market, has opened up about its 5G plans: It's aiming to field-test its 5G network in Austin, Texas, before the end of this year.
That's puts AT&T on pace with its biggest rival.
Verizon (NASDAQ: VZ) surprised the telecom world last year by saying it planned to start rolling out 5G by 2017 -- years earlier than industry experts had expected. AT&T initially resisted a me-too approach, declaring its rival's announcement as premature. The standards for what constitutes 5G won't even be set until 2018, the company noted.
But AT&T says it's ready to start sharing its 5G roadmap. It's working with Ericsson and Intel, and it will begin testing 5G in a lab this spring before testing it outdoors later in 2016.
AT&T expects that its 5G network will deliver speeds between 10 and 100 times faster than 4G. AT&T says that its new 5G network will also have significantly less lag between tapping a button and getting the network to play a video, download a song or search for a local restaurant.
With a network that fast and responsive, AT&T says that 5G will open the door to new wireless possibilities.
The announcement of AT&T's roadmap doesn't change much. Even before its unveiling, AT&T had been heavily involved in exploring 5G solutions, according to Bill Smith, president of AT&T's network operations, in an interview held in December.
But analysts and investors were getting antsy, as Verizon clearly laid out its plans last year, and Nokia (NASDAQ: NOK) began discussing its 5G roadmap last week.
AT&T stock opened trading on Tuesday down 23 cents from Friday's close, at $36.24 U.S., within a 52-week trading range of $30.97 to $37.12 U.S.
Incidentally, Verizon shares dipped 35 cents in the trading day's first hour to $49.76 U.S., but remained in the upper berth a 52-week trading range of $38.06 to $51.20 U.S.
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