Sprint to launch commercial 5G service ‘in May’

Connected technology firm 1018 Sprint is to launch a commercial 5G service in May.

Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City will be the first of its nine markets, with Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix and Washington, DC expected to follow by the end of June.

The company has also created an interactive exhibition, the Sprint 5G Experience, at its Kansas HQ to explain how the communications protocol works and what difference it will make to people’s lives.

Steve Gaffney, Sprint vice president of media and experiential marketing, says the exhibition, which uses augmented and virtual reality, will “help visitors visualise the types of innovations it will bring”.

The company says it will showcase the foundation for 5G from spectrum to a fibre-optics network and from Massive MIMO technology to real-world demonstrations of 5G's lower latency.

Partners in the venture include 5650 Ericsson, 4243 Intel, 954 LG, 183 Nokia, 213 Qualcomm Technologies and 1809 Samsung Electronics.