With Mobile World Congress in the rearview window now, the geographical consensus on 5G seems to be: China will dominate; competition in the US will heat up quickly; and Europe is in danger of lagging in deployments.
Of course, trials are just starting and product development is still underway, but those seem to be the general takeaways from a whirlwind week of meetings, press conferences and news announcements. (See China Mobile Stands Alone in Ambitious 5G Plans and Seen & Heard at MWC: 5G Across the Globe.)
When it comes to the US, all four of the major wireless operators -- AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile -- made announcements and issued timelines for their deployment plans. Light Reading Mobile Editor Dan Jones has put together a helpful cheat sheet to keep you up to date on plans for the US.
Check it out right here: 5G in the USA: A Post-MWC Update
It's safe to say 5G is well on its way to the US. Widespread deployment is still a few years out, but smartphones will be arriving in 2019, at which time they will work on several networks... in at least several markets. (See 5G in the US Heats Up – Sort Of.)
— Sarah Thomas, Contributing Editor, Telco Transformation