6 Telco Revelations From MWC Barcelona 2019

All Eyes On 5G

Telecommunications providers from all over the globe put their best foot forward this week at Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona, each one eagerly ready to share its latest products, services and plans with the world.

From newly forged partnerships to encourage Internet of Things adoption to their competitive 5G strategies, here are six announcements and innovations that some of the largest service providers in the world unveiled at MWC 2019.

AT&T, Vodafone Partner On Connected Cars

AT&T and Vodafone Business revealed at MWC that they will be working together to further IoT across the automotive industry.

Combined, the companies will be focusing on in-vehicle entertainment systems, connected car applications and services, and global service quality models using 5G and other autonomous vehicle technology to give manufacturers a more consistent IoT experience and to increase adoption.

AT&T and Vodafone Business said they are already working with nearly 50 global automotive brands and have connected more than 43 million cars and trucks.

Ericsson To Turn On Global 5G

Ericsson President and CEO Börje Ekholm took to MWC 2019 to announce that the company will be turning on 5G globally this year.

The Swedish networking and telecommunications company revealed commercial 5G deals with 10 service providers, including AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. Ericsson is now rolling out 5G networks in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia.

Ericsson said it has already shipped more than 3 million 5G-ready radios to its customers worldwide.

Nokia Technology Powers Optus 5G Network In Australia

Finnish telecommunications and consumer electronics provider Nokia and Optus, one of the largest telecommunications companies in Australia, have teamed up to accelerate 5G Down Under.

Optus said it is the first carrier in the world to use Nokia's FastMile 5G indoor gateway across a live fixed-wireless 5G network—the 3.5GHz band on its commercial 5G home broadband network, the companies said.

Nokia and Optus said they will have 50 live 5G sites by March, including the five sites that are already live. The network also uses Nokia's 5G NR radio solution including the 32T32R active antenna units and Aiscale Baseband, the two companies said.

Sprint Reveals First 5G Device, Updates On 5G Service

Wireless carrier Sprint said at MWC that its first 5G-capable phone it will sell in the U.S. will be the LG V50 ThinQ phone.

The Overland Park, Kan.-based carrier has chosen LG's first 5G-capable device, a high-end product that will compete with Samsung's recently launched Galaxy S10 5G.

Sprint CTO John Saw also said at the event that the carrier will soon turn on its initial 5G service in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Kansas City. Sprint revealed that five additional markets, including Los Angeles, New York, Washington, Phoenix and Houston, will be live with 5G by the end of 2019.

T-Mobile To Wait On 5G

T-Mobile reiterated its plans to hold off a bit on rolling out 5G services until the technology and devices have caught up to the hype.

The self-proclaimed "uncarrier's "CTO, Neville Ray, said at MWC that the Bellevue, Wash.-based provider won't be formally launching its 5G service in its first 30 cities until the second half of 2019. Ray said that T-Mobile plans to wait until more handset manufacturers and chipset makers are able to build devices that can use the lower-band 600MHz spectrum, which is what T-Mobile is using for its own 5G network across the U.S. Ray did not say which 5G-enabled phones T-Mobile will be selecting as a part of its 5G rollout.

Verizon Adds Third 5G-Capable Smartphone To Device Lineup

Verizon, on the other hand, unveiled the third 5G smartphone the carrier is going with later this year.

Like Sprint, Verizon has chosen the LG V50 ThinQ 5G. LG’s first 5G-capable smartphone will be enabled on Verizon’s 5G Ultra-Wideband network this summer, the carrier said.

Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Verizon also already announced two other smartphones that will be used on its 5G network, including the Motorola moto z3 with 5G moto mod and the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, which both will be enabled during the first half of 2019 for consumers and business users, Verizon said.