Angela Lang / CNET
AT&T’s 5G network will begin to gain momentum later this year, with the addition of part of its new wireless spectrum. At its analyst event on Friday, the operator detailed its purchase of additional medium waves for $ 27.4 billion at the recent FCC record auction.
The company says it will begin rolling out the first half of its spectrum purchase in late 2021, covering 70 million to 75 million people by the end of 2022 and expanding to more than 100 million people in the “beginning” of 2023.
Known as C band, the middle band spectrum has been seen by the wireless industry as a key technology to deliver faster 5G performance than existing low-bandwidth, longer-range networks, while covering areas larger than the fastest millimeter wave 5G
At its own analyst event on Wednesday, Verizon said this new spectrum will allow it to offer maximum download speeds of 1 gigabit per second. The country’s largest operator, which has spent more on C band, also plans to extend the spectrum more aggressively later this year and said it plans to cover 100 million people by next March.
AT&T made no promises of speed during its presentation on Friday and did not say whether users would need to have specific unlimited plans to access the new flavor of 5G.
In a press release after the event, the operator announced that it will expand 5G access to all of its unlimited consumer plans later this month. Previously, the company limited 5G to only those with its latest Starter, Extra and Elite unlimited offers.
Chris Sambar, executive vice president of technology operations at AT&T, told CNET that – like Verizon – AT&T iPhone 12 and Galaxy S21 the devices already include support for the C band network, as well as the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot Pro. Other 5G phones that the operator will sell in the future will work in the same way with the new spectrum.
Unlike Verizon, AT&T’s version of the Google Pixel 5 will work with its version of C band, the operator told CNET. In a statement, a spokeswoman said that when it comes to current AT&T users who have 5G devices on their network, “more than 70% of them use devices with C-band capability”.
The news arrives on the third day of US operator analyst events following the FCC auction. On thursday T-Mobile provided an update on the state of its business detailing its 5G improvements and migration of Sprint users to T-Mobile plans, and further triggering the imminent launch of its home Internet broadband service.
AT&T’s Sambar says that, like its rivals, the wireless operator will launch its own wireless home broadband offering to consumers later this year. Although he did not elaborate, he said he will use a combination of his existing 4G LTE and 5G spectrum, as well as his newly acquired C-band holdings.
In addition to wireless news, AT&T announced on Friday that it will expand its domestic broadband footprint with the addition of 3 million new fiber sites in “more than 90 metropolitan areas”, with potentially another 4 million next year. It also revealed that a cheaper and 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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