Sprint to launch 5G by 2019 using its stash of 2.5GHz spectrum

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Sprint to launch 5G by 2019 using its stash of 2.5GHz spectrum
A week after T-Mobile announced its plan to build a coast-to-coast 5G network, Sprint threw its 2 cents into the 5G hat with an announcement of its own. The nation's fourth largest carrier announced that it will be launching its 5G network by late 2019.  While Sprint didn't say whether its entire network would be running by then, T-Mobile says that it will have regional service that same year, with nationwide coverage in 2020.

Back in March, Sprint tested its gigabit LTE service during an NBA game in New Orleans. The test used 60MHz of Sprint's high frequency  2.5GHz spectrum, the same airwaves that figure prominently in Sprint's 5G plans. The gigabit service will be available later this year in certain markets, and for certain handsets that employ the Snapdragon 835 chipset like the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8+.

Sprint has said in the past that it has plenty of 2.5GHz spectrum, which was one of the reasons why it sat out the recent FCC auction of 600MHz spectrum. Joining Sprint with the build out of its 5G network will be parent company SoftBank, and chipmaker Qualcomm. The project employs the 3GPP New Radio (NR) standard in Band 41 (2.5GHz).

source: Sprint via AndroidAuthority

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