US mobile operator Sprint has revealed plans to launch a commercial 5G mobile platform using its extensive 2.5GHz spectrum holdings in the first half of 2019. The target was revealed by CEO Marcelo Claure in a conference call to discuss the cellco’s quarterly earnings. Fierce Wireless quotes the executive as saying: ‘We’re working with Qualcomm and network and device manufacturers in order to launch the first truly mobile [5G] network in the United States by the first half of 2019 … This development will put Sprint at the forefront of technology innovation on par with other leading carriers around the world.’
The CEO noted that Sprint’s 5G rollout efforts will be bolstered by the deployment of roughly 40,000 outdoor small cell solutions, 15,000 strand-mounted small cells through the company’s partnerships with cable companies Cox and Altice, and the deployment of up to one million residential ‘Magic Boxes’, which are described as ‘the world’s first all-wireless small cell’.