AT&T hits milestone with 5G low-band coverage

AT&T now covers more than 250 million people across the US with its flavor of 5G, which includes low-band spectrum in large parts of the country. It reached that goal a full six months earlier than originally planned. The company uses dynamic spectrum sharing, which allowed it to speed its 5G deployment by putting it on top of its LTE network. Its millimeter wave (mmWave) technology, which it calls 5G Plus, is now in parts of 38 cities and 20 venues, with plans to be in parts of 40 cities and 40 venues by the end of 2021. AT&T has also stated that its 5G Plus will be rolled out in seven US airports this year. But one can argue that its C-band spectrum, of which it obtained 80 MHz at auction earlier this year, is the real star of the show, offering better capacity than low-band and wider coverage than high-band spectrum. Often called the “Goldilocks” of spectrum, the mid-band spectrum offers better propagation characteristics for 5G than other parts of the spectrum range. Both AT&T and Verizon are in a race to get their C-band deployed as “un-carrier” T-Mobile continues to ramp up–and heavily tout–its mid-band spectrum advantage with the 2.5 GHz spectrum it’s been deploying at a frenzied pace.