Verizon has now confirmed it will be launching its mobile 5G network in more than thirty cities in the U.S. during 2019.
The company made the announcement today as part an outline for its “5G-era growth strategy” where the company’s CEO, Hans Vestberg, stated how this is part of the Verizon’s commitment to “provide customers with the best network experiences in the world.”
Although this marks the start of the first firm confirmation on a 5G mobile network rollout, the company did not provide any further details on the process. Therefore there’s no word on which cities are included in that list and by the same token, which of those thirty cities will ultimately be first.
There was also no information provided on when the rollout will commence other than Verizon saying “in the first half of 2019.”
The timing of this announcement is not random as yesterday Samsung announced its Galaxy S10 series which included a 5G version. As to be expected, Verizon does plan to offer the Galaxy S10 5G and in fact, will be the first carrier in the U.S. to do so – Verizon has a temporary exclusivity period in place with the Galaxy S10 5G before it arrives at other U.S. carriers.
Considering the 5G variant of the Galaxy S10 is expected to go on sale in the coming months it would be counterproductive to have that phone available to buy, with its major selling point being 5G support, and only available through Verizon during a period when there’s effectively no 5G mobile network available from the carrier.
So it should be expected the “first half of 2019” launch will fairly neatly tie-in with the arrival to market of the Galaxy S10 5G.
However, this will not be the only smartphone option available to Verizon customers as the company had already confirmed Motorola’s Moto Z3 smartphone will also be compatible with its 5G network when used in conjunction with the 5G mod.
Verizon had technically already announced the launch of its 5G network (it did so back in October of last year), citing it was the first to market although, that was not a standards-based solution and was in reference to 5G for the home. This particular launch is focused on the other side of the home/mobile equation.
As part of today’s announcement, Verizon also stated it plans to expand the availability of its 5G home network “to more markets in the second half of 2019.”
What is of interest is the number of cities quoted as that seems to directly tally with the number of cities that T-Mobile says it has already (and quietly) enabled 5G in. Whether the list is the same remains to be seen although there’s a high likelihood a number of major locations will be and in time become the first ‘battleground cities’ in the race to your 5G signature.
AT&T on the other hand already seems to be ahead of the game when it comes to 5G mobile as the company announced the launch of its network in late 2018 with the service already having gone live selectively within twelve U.S. cities.
A much smaller number than many AT&T customers might assume based on the use of a “5GE” icon that now appears on smartphones connected to its 4G-based network. Something the company has come under fire for recently.