Verizon has turned it up to 10 by bringing 5G service to Phoenix, which rounds out the operator’s first 10 cities to gain connectivity to its burgeoning millimeter wave (mmWave) mobile 5G network. America’s fifth-most populated city today joins Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Washington, D.C. on Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network.

Verizon is emphasizing the strength of its 5G network running on mmWave spectrum in big cities and remains guarded about its nationwide 5G coverage plans and the timeline for an expansion of its 5G network. The operator, which launched its first mobile 5G markets in April, says it will have 5G coverage in 30 markets by the end of the year.

The operator is investing more heavily in urban areas now because the large majority of Verizon’s network traffic occurs in dense environments, said Ronan Dunne, executive vice president and group CEO of Verizon’s consumer business, during an investor conference earlier this month. “Not all 5G is created equal, and that’s important to understand,” he said.

“If somebody else is rushing to bring out 5G nationwide, it may be because they don’t actually have credible 4G LTE coverage in those areas to start with,” Dunne said. “Millimeter wave is giving you between 1 and 2 GB download speeds. The mid bands and lowers are giving you in the low hundreds, so it’s already very clear the distinction between the two.”

However, like all mmWave 5G deployments to date, service is limited to areas that are within reach of the short-range spectrum. Verizon says its 5G network in Phoenix is concentrated in the downtown area including the convention center, Talking Stick Resort Arena, The Orpheum Theatre, CityScape, and Chase Field. It also claims to have reached 5G download speeds up to 1.6 Gb/s on the network.

“We will have both nationwide coverage of 5G but we will also have millimeter wave in the majority of places where data is used and that will give us a differentiated proposition on an ongoing base,” Dunne told investors at the conference earlier this month.

Verizon today also announced it has partnered with Boingo Wireless to help bring its 5G service indoors and to large public spaces as it continues to expand the network. The operator’s launch in Phoenix coincides with the release of Samsung’s Galaxy Note10+ 5G, which customers can use to access the new 5G capabilities.

As Verizon along with its competitors in the United States and elsewhere work to expand 5G networks, network infrastructure vendors are benefitting, according to new research from Gartner. The firm expects 5G wireless network infrastructure revenue to reach $4.2 billion in 2020, marking an 89% increased from $2.2 billion this year.

Gartner also predicts 5G new radio network infrastructure will comprise 6% of total wireless infrastructure revenue for communications service providers in 2019 and expects that to reach 12% in 2020. “5G wireless network infrastructure revenue will nearly double between 2019 and 2020,” said Sylvain Fabre, senior research director at Gartner, in a prepared statement. 

About 7% of communications service providers worldwide have deployed 5G infrastructure in their respective networks to date, according to Gartner. “National 5G coverage will not occur as quickly as with past generations of wireless infrastructure,” Fabre said. “To maintain average performance standards as 5G is built out, [network operators] will need to undertake targeted strategic improvements to their 4G legacy layer by upgrading 4G infrastructure around 5G areas of coverage.”

Indeed, Gartner expects many operators to follow the path that Verizon is taking with early deployments, saying the bifurcated approach will be most pronounced through 2021. Through that period “5G coverage will be focused on hot spots and areas of high population density,” Fabre said.