After years of pilot testing across the planet, this is the first year since the first mobile operators began offering their customers 5G services, which are now officially available in 19 countries.
To find out how the 5G rollout is going in different countries. We will analyze the calendar used in different countries, the number of cities where there is already 5G coverage, the frequencies used during the first implementation to provide coverage or the stages that are being implemented.
South Korea with 5G from April 2019
South Korea was one of the first countries in the world to deploy 5G. The country’s major operators, KT and SK Telecom, did so by announcing the launch of the 5G NSA network in April with an initial coverage of approximately 34,000 base stations that provided coverage in cities such as Seoul and six cities in its metropolitan area, as well as 85 other cities from country.
The launch offer promoted the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G and announced new rates with unlimited traffic, deciding to reduce the speed in the cheapest ones to 1 or 5 Mbps after absorbing part of the traffic at the maximum speed.
Switzerland with 5G from April 2019
Also in April 2019, European countries such as Switzerland welcomed 5G with an ambitious plan to expand its coverage that would achieve the main goal of providing connectivity to homes and offices that did not have fiber optics. This plan has already brought 5G to 428 cities. In January 2020, 90% of the Swiss population.
Operators such as Swisscom and Sunrise were responsible for the implementation, and their rates were also based on a mode with unlimited data traffic, but with speeds limited to 100 Mb/s for 80 francs or 2 Gb/s for 200 francs.
United Arab Emirates in the 5G network from May 2019
Etisalat was one of the first operators to deploy 5G in the UAE, currently focusing its coverage on cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sarja and other nearby cities.
Finland with 5G from May 2019
The 5G network appeared in Finland in May 2019 thanks to Elisa, an operator that initially implemented coverage in the city centers of Tampere, Jyväskylä, Turku and Helsinki. Nine months later, coverage had reached 20 cities.
UK with 5G from June 2019
In the UK, EE was the first operator to deliver 5G in June 2019 and today has coverage in 71 cities. Your unlimited data bet is reduced to a single charge of £64, which will have no speed cap. The remaining rates allow you to choose between 10, 30 or 120 GB.
Spain with 5G from June 2019
In Spain, currently only Vodafone has deployed 5G in 15 cities, and since its launch there has been no significant progress in terms of its arrival in new cities, with a few exceptions such as Benidorm, which was intended to serve as a down payment for the next batch of 5G cities. At the moment, Vodafone’s rollout was focused on 5G NSA, but has already started rolling out 5G SA in professional environments.
The frequency used for the initial deployment is 3.7 GHz, while the 800 MHz band will have to wait until the migration of digital terrestrial television to 700 MHz is paralyzed and the frequency auction for 5G cannot be activated again. in the lower band.
In Spain, 5G rates include rates for prepaid and contract cards, including the cheapest ones such as Vodafone yu, as well as unlimited data speeds, which are offered in three modes depending on their speed, to choose from in the range of 2, 10 Mb/ s or maximum available.
Italy with 5G from June 2019
Vodafone was also responsible for rolling out 5G to Italy a few days after it did so in Spain, but progress in the rollout has been more accelerated and has already covered a total of 33 cities, after giving the starting gun only to Rome, Milan, Turin, Bologna and Naples. The goal for this year is to reach 100 cities.
The rate model chosen by Vodafone Italia has in practice been linked to the Spanish model, although prices for the 2 Mbps modality are €4 cheaper there, 10 Mbps are €6 cheaper and unlimited speeds are €10 more expensive. Your data roaming will also be much more limited, ranging from 1 to 5 GB.
Germany with 5G from June 2019
In Germany, Vodafone repeated itself as the first operator to launch 5G and today it is already available in about 50 cities. Despite the rapid evolution of the implementation, rates are still limited to a maximum of 20 GB for 50 euros.
Japan with 5G from September 2019
The Japanese operator NTT Docomo On was responsible for turning on 5G on September 20, 2019 in the city of Sapporo, although it had to wait until spring 2020 for its availability to increase. The most generous rates include 100 GB for around 65 euros.
Ireland with 5G from October 2019
and go, the Irish operator announced the rollout of 5G to 10 cities on October 24, 2019, with an initial rollout of 100 base stations in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford, and offering unlimited data for €60 and 5G mobiles from €99 . Over the months, 5G coverage has doubled and now reaches 25% of the population.
China with 5G from November 2019
The arrival of 5G NSA in China was announced in November by its two main operators, China Mobile and China Unicom, with an initial coverage of 50,000 5G base stations reaching 50 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou , Nanjing, Tianjin, Wuhan, Jinan or Zhengzhou. In spring 2020, Nanjing became the first city with 5G SA.
Among the tariffs, China Unicom has released seven new ways to enjoy prices ranging from 129 yuan to 599 yuan, with bonuses ranging from 30 GB to 300 GB.
Romania with 5G from November 2019
Orange was responsible for launching the first 5G network in Romania in November 2019 in three cities such as Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Iasi, and for now the number of cities with 5G has not increased.
Sweden with 5G from December 2019
Telenor launched its first 5G network in Sweden on December 14, 2019, but it is currently only available in Stockholm.
United States with 5G from December 2019
Although Verizón predicted the arrival of 5G in the USA, on December 6, 2019, T-Mobile presented the most extensive national 5G network, which covered over 200 million people in over 5,000 cities, and did it using spectrum technology in the 600 band MHz, although they are already preparing to use the 2.5 GHz band.
Canada with 5G from January 2020
Canadian operator Rogers was the first to announce a national 5G network in cities such as Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal on January 15, 2020, and hopes to launch 20 more cities within the year.
The Rogers 5G network initially uses the 2.5 GHz spectrum in the mentioned cities, and will be expanded to include the 600 MHz 5G spectrum later this year. In the future, Rogers will also begin deploying 3.5 GHz spectrum and dynamic spectrum sharing, which will enable 4G to 5G spectrum with Ericsson equipment.
Austria with 5G from January 2020
On January 25, 2020, the first 5G network of operator A1 was presented in Austria, which initially offers coverage of 129 municipalities in the 3.5 GHz band with its 350 5G base stations. Its unlimited data fee costs 100 euros.
Thailand with 5G from March 2020
Thai operators True Move H and AIS announced the launch of 5G in March 2020 in 77 provinces using the 700 MHz, 2.6 GHz and 26 GHz spectrum.
Belgium with 5G from April 2020
One of the last countries to join 5G was Belgium, which has Proximus coverage in around 50 cities and unlimited data speeds for €50.
Source: explica.com
