Despite the outbreak of COVID-19, AT&T is continuing to expand its 5G networks including launching service in 90 new markets.
With the launch in these cities, AT&T has now bumped up its 5G networks to consumers and businesses in a total of 190 markets in the U.S.
AT&T has been aggressive with its rollout of 5G networks with 13 cites being introduced in the early part of the year and another 22 cities that received 5G in March.
AT&T said it covers a total of 120 million people potentially. Of course, this would mean that everyone would have a 5G smartphone and sign up for AT&T service rather than a competitor, but the coverage means more people have the ability to try out and experience 5G, which would grow the user base.
The latest markets for 5G include cities in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
This year was supposed to be a big year for 5G after 2019 laid the groundwork for initial network deployments. More networks were destined to be rolled out including additional sub-6 GHz and millimeter wave (mmWave) base stations but it is unclear how much of this will be accomplished or will be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Numerous smartphone vendors had plans to introduce several new smartphones on the market in order to proliferate the technology including low and mid-range phones to expand who can afford the smartphones. Most of the smartphones that were introduced in 2019 ran with a price tag of $1,000 or more.
However, some telecoms have pushed ahead with their smartphone roll outs including Oppo that introduced its X2 Pro 5G device, OnePlus plans to release its OnePlus 8 5G smartphone later this month and Samsung introduced two mid-range smartphones for 5G in early April.
