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U.S. telco aims to field trial next-gen mobile tech before the end of the year.
AT&T on Friday became the latest telco to announce a 5G roadmap, stating its aim to conduct lab tests in the second quarter and field trials before the end of the year.
The U.S. telco has partnered with Ericsson and Intel to work on next-generation mobile technology. The companies will start in the lab before moving to outdoor tests over the summer.
"We expect field trials of 5G technologies to provide wireless connectivity to fixed locations in Austin [Texas] before the end of this year," said AT&T, in a statement.
After that, it will continue to develop and roll out a pre-standard 5G network "that we’ll be able to pivot to compliant commercial deployments once 5G technology standards are set."
AT&T said software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualisation will be fundamental to 5G. The operator has set itself a goal of virtualising 75% of its network by 2020. At the end of 2015, it had virtualised 5.7%, and aims to reach 30% by the end of 2016.
"5G will reach its full potential because we will build it on a software-centric architecture that can adapt quickly to new demands and give customers more control of their network services," said John Donovan, chief strategy officer and president of AT&T Technology and Operations.
"New experiences like virtual reality, self-driving cars, robotics, smart cities and more are about to test networks like never before," he continued. "These technologies will be immersive, pervasive and responsive to customers. 5G will help make them a reality."
AT&T is the second major U.S. telco to announce 5G trials for 2016.
In September, Verizon announced 5G partnerships with Cisco, Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm, and Samsung. The telco will establish 5G ‘sandboxes’ at its R&D facilities in Waltham, Massachusetts, and San Francisco, where the telco and its partners will work together on candidate 5G technology.
