AT&T announced on Friday that it will conduct a field test for fifth generation of mobile network by the end of this year.The 5G provide data transfer speed beyond current capacity in fourth generation.
Previously, Verizon in September 2015 has announced to begin its field test in this year as well. Verizon worked with Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung to build its network infrastructure. While AT&T will work together with Ericsson and Intelstarting in the second quarter this year.
AT&T will administer its 5G field trials in in Austin,Texas. Chief Strategy Officer and Group President for AT&T Technology and Operations, John Donovan told USA Today, "The driving event there for us is we're a big broadband provider, we have merger commitments that we've agreed to, and we've agreed to serve some rural areas with wireless broadband."
In regard to economic scale of 5G, he added, "Ultimately as an integrated carrier we have a lot of incentive to (add) any new technology (to our) footprint, particularly if that 5G for fixed usage has better economics than fiber in certain locales." Moreover, Donovan told Re/code, "It's very appealing for us to get an early version to do broadband replacement."
The first research of fifth generation of mobile network has been initiated in 2008, when two separated research is conducted in the U.S. and South Korea. NASA partnered with M2Mi Corp in research, while South Korean government under Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy started research and development program on 5G technology.
In term of field testing, Japan's NTT DoCoMo was the first to test its 5G network in 2014. The Japanese mobile phone operator tested its 5G network built with Alcatel Lucent, Ericsson, Fujitsu, NEC, Samsung and Nokia.
Nokia planned to be one of the biggest player in 5G. The technology will provide better support for artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and self-driving car. Nokia chief technology officer Marcus Weldon told CNN Money, "5G will give birth to the next phase of human possibilities, bringing about the automation of everything."
In regard to the opportunity presented by 5G, Weldon said, "This automation, driven by a smart, invisible network, will create new businesses, give rise to new services and, ultimately, free up more time for people."
AT&T in cooperation with Intel and Ericsson will start 5G network field test by the end of this year. Its competitor, Verizon will also test the technology in this year in cooperation with Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson, Qualcomm and Samsung.
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