If all things go as planned, smartphone users on AT&T network will be able to enjoy 5G services next year. The American telecom conglomerate AT&T will be launching 5G wireless network in late 2018, the company has officially announced.

AT&T Labs chief and CTO Andre Fuetsch stated that the company will be accelerating their 5G launch which will be one year ahead of expectations, simultaneously noting the recent 3GPP agreement to make an intermediate standard for 5G ready by March 2018.

Hastening the pace of 5G standard development, AT&T plans to complete the 5G standards key components required for initiation of chipset development in December 2017. This is well six months in advance of the expected 3GPP Release 15.. Thus, come December 2017 and we will get the first complete picture of a holistic 5G system.

The 3GPP Release 15 5G specifications, which AT&T has kept in mind while charting its accelerated December 2017 timeline, are expected to be completed in June 2018, including both stand-alone and non-standalone. These specifications will define the transition from LTE to non-standalone and standalone, support for 5G enhanced mobile broadband use cases.

Read: New official logo for 5G sets it as next wireless standard

The other details will be taken care of by 3GPP Release 16 which will be completed in late 2019. These include support for the internet of things (IoT) and ultra-high reliability and low-latency applications. All of the 5G use cases and requirements specified by the 3GPP and the International Telecommunications Union will be covered by both these releases.

via Telecompaper