Is 5G real?

5G is controversial. From major vendors being blacklisted and operators making questionable claims to governments stalling spectrum auctions to hold out for more cash, disagreement has emerged as to whether it is even real.

This question should be answerable beyond a reasonable doubt with empirical evidence. Yet even the evidence is questioned because there is no consensus about whether 5G is simply a next-generation radio access network (RAN) or comprises the entirety of a greater vision, as touted in endless C-level keynotes, that includes multi-access edge computing (MEC), cloud-native networks, dynamic network slicing and large-scale B2B applications.

A look at recent news and announcements from around the world demonstrates that at the very least 5G RANs are real and operational. Both high-band and low-band examples of Non-standalone 5G exist today (see below). Networks are expanding, some faster than others, but the first steps have been taken toward the greater 5G vision promised by Standalone 5G, which 3GPP has delayed until June because of the coronavirus outbreak. In this sense, 5G is real, even if early deployments don’t realize the full vision.

Where is 5G available?

A review of dozens of news reports from the past year reveal that multiple operators in every region have launched 5G RANs in some form. Initial launches on Non-standalone architectures that share 4G/LTE infrastructure perform at greater “speeds” than LTE, but not always at the gigabit speeds expected with full 5G architectures. In some cases, gigabit-capable 5G services have been delivered, though typically they are limited to specific areas in major cities.

Below are many examples of announced 5G launches (though lengthy, this is not an exhaustive list, and no operator’s launch has been excluded deliberately.) Testing vendor Ookla also provides a map of global 5G deployments that is updated weekly.

Asia-Pacific

• Axiata Group is pushing to launch 5G while running trials across South Asia in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia, but awaits licensing and spectrum auctions.


• Chunghwa Telecom plans to launch 3.5GHz and 28GHz service in July in Taiwan.


• Mobifone announced on March 10 that its 5G trial was complete in Vietnam, reporting download speeds of 2Gbps. The operator has not yet announced a commercial launch date.


• NTT DoCoMo launched 5G on March 25 and plans to cover all 47 prefectures by June.


• Reliance Jio is awaiting India’s 5G spectrum auction but recently made news by claiming it will have no gear sourced from China in its network.


• Softbank announced plans to launch 5G on March 27, initially rolling out in 7 prefectures.


• Telstra plans to trial millimeter wave in Australia by mid-2020; millimeter wave auction expected in 2021.


• Viettel plans a commercial 5G launch in Vietnam in June; made country’s first 5G connection in May 2019. Trial tests reported 600-700Mbps connections.


• Vodafone Australia went live with its first 5G site in March.

UK & Europe

• Deutsche Telekom launched 5G in Berlin, Bonn, Cologne, Darmstadt and Munich in September 2019 and had 1,800 5G sites running by February. Download speeds have been tested up to 1Gbps.


• EE launched 5G in May 2019, had 71 locations by March; tested by RootMetrics at 327Mbps; plans Standalone with 5G core in 2022.


• Orange Romania launched 5G in November 2019, the first 5G launch for the Orange Group. Orange Poland is slated next in the group; it completed testing at 900Mbps in September 2019.


• O2 (Telefónica UK) launched 5G in 20 cities in the UK in 2019 and plans to launch Standalone in 2021. Telefónica Group also announced 5G Open RAN trials for UK, Germany, Spain and Brazil in 2020.


• Telenor went live with 5G on March 13 in 9 cities, including its tech capital of Trondheim.


• Vodafone went live with 5G in Spain in June 2019 and in Germany and the UK in July 2019.

Americas

• América Móvil CEO Daniel Hajj Aboumrad announced plans to launch 5G in Mexico or Brazil in 2020.


• AT&T launched millimeter wave 5G in parts of 35 US cities on March 4, 2020 and low band in 80 cities.


• Rogers launched Canada’s first 5G network in 4 cities on March 6, 2020; plans 20 more markets in 2020.


• T-Mobile US launched low band 5G nationally and millimeter wave in parts of specific cities in December 2019. Low band tested at 34-148 Mbps and millimeter wave at 493Mbps by RootMetrics.


• Verizon first launched millimeter wave 5G in April 2019, offering home broadband with peak download speeds tested at 2Gbps, aiming for 60 cities in 2020; plans nationwide coverage in 2020 using low band and spectrum sharing.

Middle East

• Etisalat was first in the region to launch 5G in May 2019, in UAE, and completed its first Standalone test in October 2019. Recently announced Open RAN and vRAN initiatives.


• Saudi Telecom Company launched 5G in Saudi Arabia in June 2019 and Standalone in Kuwait in February 2020.


• Zain launched 5G in Saudi Arabia in October 2019 using massive MIMO and announced 5G roaming between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in November 2019.

Africa

• 5G is live in South Africa. Rain launched fixed wireless services in February. Liquid Telecom is due to launch its 5G wholesale network imminently which Vodacom will use to launch its 5G offering in 2020.

What’s the verdict?

5G is real and live in many parts of the world. The cause for skepticism, however, seems to stem from the gap between today’s reality and the vision that has been described for several years. For the most part, 5G has been sold as an end-to-end, cloud-native, ultra-high throughput and low-latency network that will usher in the 4^th industrial revolution. The industry has not achieved that vision yet, but the networks being rolled out today are still called “5G” – hence the confusion.

Data for this story was drawn for a wide range of sources including 5G Radar, 5G.co.uk, Asian Review, BBC News, Bloomberg News, BN Americas, Business Today India, Capacity Media, Celcom, ColomboPage, Comms Update, Deutsche Telekom, Developing Telecoms, EE Times Asia, Ericsson, Etisalat, European 5G Observatory, Fierce Wireless, GlobeNewswire, Huawei, India Today, Light Reading, Liquid Telecom, Maxis, Mobile World Live, Nikkei, Open Gov Asia, PC Magazine, Rain, RCR Wireless News, Reuters, Statista, STC, Telecom Lead, Telecompaper, Telecom TV, Telefonica, Telenor, The Star, The Verge, Total Telecom, Verizon, Zain and ZDnet.