5G was a nearly worldwide phenomenon in 2019. It was a year of many firsts in the United States and much of the rest of the world. Bragging rights are still very much tinted by the eyes of the beholder. The United States, China, South Korea, and some European countries are effectively battling for the lead and many others are close behind.

Unsurprisingly, the advancement of 5G has been framed in a manner that mimics the general thrust of global politics today: the United States versus the rest of the world. Political leaders and industry executives routinely describe 5G in a national or semi-regional context, arguing that homegrown developments and early wins in 5G will deliver dramatic benefits for those respective societies and their standing on the global stage.

The United States ended the year with all four of its nationwide operators having deployed at least some 5G services. Here’s where things stand in many places beyond America’s borders.

South Korea’s leading network operators KT Corp., SK Telecom, and LG Uplus all deployed 5G services in 2019. The nation’s largest operator, KT, claimed to launch the “world’s first nationwide commercial 5G wireless network” in April, with enterprises and customers actively using the network.

KT rolled out a limited trial 5G network in 2017 ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics and began deploying commercial service in November 2018 within days of Verizon’s first mobile 5G network launch in the United States. KT’s network covers the country’s most populated areas and SK Telecom is expanding its footprint in kind with multiple trials underway, including a 5G standalone first with an assist from Ericsson and Qualcomm in September.

South Korea’s government has pledged to support the completion of nationwide network deployments by 2022, and previously announced plans to raise more than $26.4 billion to invest in that goal.

China’s trio of mobile network operators weren’t the first carriers to deploy 5G, but in one fell swoop in November the companies effectively activated the world’s largest 5G network to date. That claim will likely remain unchallenged in perpetuity.

5G services are live in major cities across the country, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. At the time, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom had collectively deployed almost 86,000 5G base stations and said more than 130,000 sites would be live before the end of the year.

Market leader China Mobile is going it alone, but China Unicom and China Telecom are pooling resources to jointly build and manage a 5G radio access network (RAN) to cut costs and share spectrum. Each operator will continue to build and manage its respective 5G mobile core.

United Kingdom’s largest operators, Vodafone UK, EE, and O2 UK deployed mobile 5G service in 2019. EE was first in the country with a deployment in May, and its 5G network currently reaches parts of 50 cities. Vodafone UK launched 5G in July, and currently has service in 34 towns and cities.

In August, Three UK deployed 5G home broadband in London and started testing a “fully virtualized cloud core network with Nokia.” Telefonica-owned O2 UK was the last of the four mobile network operators in the country to deploy 5G with services activated in October. As the year came to a close, the operator said its 5G network is live in 20 cities and it remains on pace to blanket 50 cities and towns with 5G by summer 2020.

The race to 5G got underway in Germany in July when market leaders Deutsche Telekom Germany and Vodafone Germany activated services in limited areas across the country. Deutsche Telekom was the first network operator to deploy 5G service in Germany and Vodafone Germany followed close behind.

German operators bemoaned the high cost of 5G spectrum in an auction that banked $7.4 billion in June, with one executive describing the final price tag as “catastrophic.” The country’s operators had similar grievances in 2000, following the auction of spectrum licenses to support 3G services. Operators ended up bidding nearly $43 billion for those licenses.

The new 5G networks in Germany are also largely running on equipment from Huawei, which dodged a ban in the country despite significant pressure from the U.S. government. That included a threat that it would limit intelligence sharing with the country if Huawei is allowed to be part of Germany’s 5G infrastructure.

In small, landlocked Switzerland, Sunrise beat market leader Swisscom to 5G with both carriers deploying 5G within days of each other. Swisscom said it would reach 90% of the country’s population by the end of 2019, and the country’s second largest operator Sunrise said its 5G network reached 80% of the country’s population during the summer.

Further south, Vodafone Spain deployed 5G services in 15 major Spanish cities in June, and plans to reach at least five more cities in the coming months. Telefónica has announced multiple trials, partnerships, and pilots but it doesn’t yet provide commercial 5G service.

In Italy, Vodafone initially deployed commercial 5G service in five cities in June, said it plans to expand to at least 45 cities in 2020, with more than 100 cities covered by 2021. Telecom Italia (TIM) activated its commercial 5G network in two cities later that month and planned to reach six more Italian cities by the end of the year. The market’s leading operators also agreed to merge their mobile tower infrastructure in July to jointly deploy 5G service around the country.

Irish operator Vodafone Ireland was first to deploy 5G service in five cities in August, but hasn’t expanded to more cities since. Eir activated 5G service in 10 towns and cities in November, and said it would reach another 100 before the end of the year. Three Ireland pushed back its 5G launch plans to 2020, but claims the coverage will be “substantial” when it goes live.

T-Mobile Austria activated 5G service in mostly rural areas in March, and said it would reach major metropolitan cities in 2020. A1 in January 2019 deployed 5G in Gmünd to act as a test bed for its network plans.

Finnish operator Telia initially activated commercial 5G service in October, and said it would reach seven of the country’s largest cities by the end of 2019.

In Australia, Telstra launched limited 5G service in May with coverage in 10 cities and said it would reach at least 35 cities within the next 12 months. Optus became the second operator in Australia to launch 5G in November with service available in six major cities.

5G deployments are advancing rapidly and this is by no means a comprehensive recap of everything that occurred in 2019, but it captures the most significant and hotly anticipated developments during the previous year.