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deployments as of last year ,” he explains , adding that the recent acquisition of C-band ( or mid-band ) spectrum at the FCC ’ s Auction 107 earlier this year will be “ key to fulfilling the potential of 5G .”
AT & T laid down several billion dollars at the latest spectrum auction , receiving 80 MHz of 5G real estate in response . Ahead of Verizon , Daly explains that AT & T will start commercially offering the first 40 MHz of that spectrum before the end of the year .
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“ This will complement our nationwide 5G network on low band and allow us to deliver faster speeds across the country ,” he says . Currently , according to Dr . Carter , while GWS ’ research “ saw 5G inspired throughputs over 1 Gbps for all three major US operators at the Superbowl this year , typical average achievable throughputs are much lower , and not significantly different from some achievable 4G (+) performances .”
However , the US ’ major issue right now isn ’ t speed , but coverage . Each of the US carriers claims to cover more than 200mn people with their nationwide networks , but an April report by Opensignal found that T-Mobile ( which leads the US carriers in terms of 5G availability ) users were only connected to the operator ’ s 5G network around 33.1 % of the time , with AT & T clocking in at 20.5 % and Verizon trailing at just over 11 %.
If the US is to catch up with China , as well as deliver on the promise of a 5G future , expanding coverage across urban and rural areas needs to be the priority . “ There ’ s still a lot of work to do , as rural builds take longer and present their own unique sets of challenges . And , generally speaking , the more rural we go , the harder it gets as we have to use technology and available spectrum more creatively ,” says Daly .
Dr . Carter notes that , “ This is all a workin-progress and with standalone 5G and more spectrum transitioned to 5G in the years ahead , network quality will continue to improve dramatically .” However , whether the UK and US can create and maintain sufficient momentum not to be completely left behind by other 5G firstmovers is another matter entirely .
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