AT&T today turned up 5G service in parts of New York City, joining T-Mobile US as the only network operators to provide some residents of the nation’s most populated city with 5G. AT&T’s burgeoning 5G network is now live in parts of 21 cities and the company says it’s on track to have “nationwide” 5G coverage during the first half of 2020. 

Much of that work is happening preemptively and in tandem with AT&T’s FirstNet buildout. “We’re putting up equipment that’s 5G enabled so when the 5G software for the core network is available, which we would hope later this year, certainly next year, we will upgrade a significant part, not all, but a significant part of our core network to 5G through a software upgrade,” said AT&T CFO John Stephens at Oppenheimer’s annual technology investor conference.

“So we may have to go to the tower, but we don’t have to climb the tower. We may have to touch the computers at the base, but we don’t necessarily need a crane and all of that so it’s a very efficient upgrade,” he explained. “We’ll be nationwide coverage, 200 million [potential customers covered], by the middle of next year.”

As with AT&T’s other 5G deployments on millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum, coverage in New York City is sparse. T-Mobile US’ 5G network in New York City, which is also using mmWave spectrum, covers large portions of Manhattan whereas AT&T’s services is only available in “limited areas initially” in a few neighborhoods. 

AT&T is also sticking with its strategy to limit its 5G service to business users and developers. Nonetheless, AT&T’s 5G network is available in more cities than any other carrier to date. Reaching New York City is also a significant milestone for any operator’s network upgrade. The carrier says it has invested nearly $1.4 billion in its wireless and wired networks in New York since 2016, and more than 4,800 wireless network upgrades were accomplished across the state in 2018. 

Sprint, which has 5G service available in five cities, has been touting its 5G network as the largest initial footprint of any operator, but its 5G network expansion appears to have stalled of late. It’s been almost 10 weeks since the company said 5G would reach New York City, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C., in the “coming weeks.” 

Of course, Sprint is also busy trying to finalize its acquisition by T-Mobile US and its suitor may have other plans in mind. Sprint did, however, announce plans to start selling a 5G smartphone from OnePlus, making it the fourth 5G device available for the carrier’s network.

T-Mobile US has 5G services live in parts of five cities and is planning to deploy 5G on 600 MHz spectrum later this year. The network operator was the last of the four nationwide carriers to deploy 5G services, and it’s strategy has also shifted amid a hard-fought battle to gain regulatory approval for its acquisition of Sprint. Still, it’s plans for 5G riding on low-, mid-, and high-band spectrum appear to be on track. 

Verizon recently expanded its 5G “Ultra Wideband” service to four additional U.S. cities, bringing it to a total of nine. Company executives, however, remain cautious about 5G network expansion plans and have yet to make any public commitments beyond reaching coverage in 30 markets by the end of this year. 

Coverage has doubled in a couple of Verizon’s early 5G markets, according to Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg, and the company continues to showcase new capabilities of the network. Verizon recently used its 5G network at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to stream video from connected cameras to analyze the performance of cars coming in and out of the first turn of the 2.5-mile speedway. This enabled engineers to overlay feeds from multiple laps to compare race lines and alert drivers to potential mid-run adjustments.