AT&T to start rolling out 5G services in 12 markets by late 2018

AT&T will start providing 5G services in around 12 markets by late 2018, with plans to offer the service to consumers while it carries out trials on the technology with businesses across all industries.

The networks for the "ambitious milestone", as the company termed the technology will be ready by the end of the year thanks to 3GPP completing 5G New Radio (5G NR) standards last month.

"We're moving quickly to begin deploying mobile 5G this year," president of AT&T Technology and Operations Melissa Arnoldi said.

"With faster speeds and ultra-low latency, 5G will ultimately deliver and enhance experiences like virtual reality, future driver-less cars, immersive 4K video, and more."

The company added, it continued to work on advanced LTE technologies including LTE-LAA, which will likely launch across 24 metros during 2018.

AT&T's 5G Evolution network technology has now been deployed in 23 metro areas.

"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 added.

"We will give you more options to access our latest wireless network offers by making additional 5G Evolution-capable devices available throughout the year."

Welcoming the development of real 5G, commentators pointed out that the company's announcement of its so-called ''5G Evolution'' network last year, was a rebranding exercise of existing LTE technologies that competitors had already adopted.

However, they point out that AT&T has not revealed much about the tech, beyond the fact that its network will be based on the newly accepted industry standard for 5G. AT&T has not revealed what speeds would be on offer, when to expect the roll out this year, or what devices will work with it.

AT&T is the last of the four main US carriers to announce its 5G rollout plans. Verizon has plans to roll out 5G service in five cities by the end of 2018, while Sprint said its network would become functional by the end of 2019. T-Mobile also has plants to roll out its 5G network in 2019.