5G to go live in US by end-2018
October 10, 2018
By Chris Forrester
IHS Markit’s Media & Technology says that 5G services will go live in North America before the end of this year.
Report author Stephane Teral says that the LTE networks now having been rolled out are gradually shifting to 4G and paving the way for 5G.
Teral says that IHS has interviewed 17 genuine 4G service providers which between them control half the world’s telecom revenues and capital expenditure. The report says that LTE equipment installations “peaked” in 2015 and is now in its 10th year of deployment. (“LTE-Advanced is defined as 4G” by the study).
IHS says that 5G is “around the corner” with 82 per cent of respondents say they are busy testing and trialling 5G services, mainly in North America and Asia, and 12 per cent saying they will deploy commercial services this year.
Teral says that Korean service providers will launch 5G next year, and most EMEA service providers by 2021. By 2021 some 35 per cent of respondents expect to have commercial 5G services.