AT&T boosts 5G tally to 335 cities, assisted by DSS

AT&T is continuing its rapid rollout of 5G across the US, recently announcing that its low-band 5G is now available in 28 new locations. These latest deployments mean that the operator now has a 5G presence in a total of 335 cities, encompassing 179 million people. 

 

These new locations include many key cities, such as Austin, Dallas, Maui, Miami, Orlando, and Salt Lake City.

 

AT&T also announced that they were making use of dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) in parts of Florida and Texas to accelerate their rollout and it seems likely that the new technologies usage will expand to further locations in the near future. DSS allows LTE and 5G networks to share spectrum resources dynamically based on demand, effectively making 5G connections by piggybacking on existing 4G infrastructure. 

 

“DSS is an important steppingstone on our path to nationwide 5G,” said Igal Elbaz, SVP of wireless and access technology at AT&T. “We were the first US carrier to deploy this technology in our network, and it’s now playing an important role as we work toward a nationwide 5G footprint this summer.”

 

DSS is also being explored by AT&T’s rival Verizon, who is running trials with Ericsson and Nokia, as well as working directly with Samsung to develop the technology, which could be a game changer when it comes to rapid rollout.