Angela Lang / CNET
AT & T’s 5G network will get a boost later this year with the addition of some of its new wireless spectrum. During its analysis event on Friday, the carrier explained its purchase of additional mid-range airwaves of $ 27.4 billion in the recent record FCC auction.
The company says it will begin deploying the first half of spectrum purchases by the end of 2021, which will cover up to 70 million to 75 million people by 2022 and expand to more than 100 million people in early 2023.
The wireless industry, known as C-band, is considered an important technology to offer faster 5G performance than existing, wider low-tier networks while covering larger areas than faster millimeter wave 5G.
Verizon said during its own analysis event on Wednesday that this new spectrum would allow it provides a peak download speed of 1 gigabit per second. The country’s largest land service, which has spent the most on C-band, also plans to expand the spectrum more aggressively later this year, saying it plans to cover 100 million people by next year.
AT&T made no speed promises during the presentation on Friday and did not say whether users will have to have specific unlimited plans to access the new flavor of 5G.
In a press release following the event, the carrier announced that it would expand 5G access to all of its unlimited plans later this month. The company previously limited only 5G to those with its most recent unlimited offering for Starter, Extra and Elite.
Chris Sambar, AT & T’s executive vice president of technology operations, tells CNET that – like Verizon – AT & T’s iPhone 12 and Galaxy S21 devices already include support for the C-band network, just like the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot Pro. Other 5G phones that the service provider will sell in the future will also work with the new spectrum.
Unlike Verizon, AT & T’s version of the Google Pixel 5 will work with its version of the C-band, the carrier tells CNET. In a statement, a spokesman said that the current AT&T users who have 5G devices in their network have more than 70% of these on C-band devices.
The news comes on the third day of US operational analysts after the FCC auction. On Thursday T-Mobile has given an update on the state of affairs outlining its 5G enhancements and migration from Sprint users to T-Mobile plans, and further teasing the impending launch of its Home Internet broadband service.
AT & T’s Sambar says that the wireless service provider, like its competitors, will launch its own wireless broadband offering to consumers later this year. Although he did not want to give further details, he said he would use a combination of the existing 4G LTE and 5G spectrum as well as the newly acquired C-band ownership.
In addition to the wireless news, AT&T announced on Friday that it will expand its broadband footprint at home with the addition of 3 million new fiber locations in ‘more than 90 metro areas’ with possibly another 4 million next year. It also revealed that a cheaper, ad-supported version of HBO Max will arrive in the US in June, along with an international expansion of its streaming service.
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