AT&T announces first three cities to receive its 5G internet

AT&T has announced the regions for its 5G launch later this year. The carrier said that parts of Dallas, Atlanta and Waco will receive early 5G coverage before the end of 2018.

AT&T announced the cities in a press release (via Engadget) earlier today, and has promised to deliver 5G in a total of 12 cities before the end of the year. The remaining nine are to be revealed “in the coming months.”

The initial rollout will occur on the millimetre wave spectrum, which will provide a somewhat limited experience ahead of a broader rollout through 2019 and onwards. Being fast to launch 5G infrastructure is an important marketing move for carriers, but as we’ve discussed previously, it’s going to take some years before 5G reaches its full potential.

Which devices will support 5G on AT&T at launch weren’t discussed; however, there are likely to be only a handful of devices from major OEMs available in the beginnings of the deployment (with far more expected to arrive in 2019).

AT&T also said it is “the only U.S. carrier that’s announced plans to deliver this ground-breaking technology to its customers in 2018″—though that’s not strictly true. Verizon said last year that it has plans to bring 5G to five US cities in 2018, but as this was before the 5G spec was approved, AT&T might have them on a technicality.