Verizon And Korea Telecom Partner To Bring 5G By 2018

5G Wireless may be coming sooner than the world initially expected. In the United States, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint have already been working hard and testing out different technologies to allow 5G to be the way next generation’s smart devices will be connecting. T-Mobile is sure to follow in the 5G revolution as well.
On Monday, June 20th, Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the FCC, gave a speech which was meant to promote awareness towards 5G wireless and the benefits it will bring in the United States.
Although mobile carriers had been covertly working on their own 5G technologies, Wheeler’s speech brought their efforts into perspective, and he encouraged the companies and all other developers to keep going strong.
It was believed that 5G technology had the potential to offer connection speeds that were ten times faster than our current 4G. Sprint’s recent trials on 5G allowed a large number of testers sharing the same space to reach consistent connection speeds of up to 2GB/s, proving that the technology can, in fact, be 100 times faster.
In order to maintain their hold as the largest carrier in the United States, on Friday, June 24h, Verizon has signed a partnership with Korea Telecom. The new partners aim to collaborate and more efficiently find the best technology which can enable large-scale 5G wireless technology.
Although the agreement between the companies was signed on Friday by Lowell McAdam of Verizon and Hwang Chang-Gyu of Korea Telecom, it was only announced late Sunday, June 27th.
As the other United States carriers announced that they believe access to 5G wireless technology will be a reality by 2020, Verizon and Korea Telecom boasted that through their united efforts, they will be able to present 5G to the world by 2018.
Korea Telecom intends to research and develop the technology by the PyeongChang Winter Olympics which are currently scheduled to take place in the South Korean city starting February 9th. Such a commitment could prove to put tremendous pressure on the Korean company in the following couple of years.
After signing the partnership, Verizon showed Hwang Chang-Gyu their current 5G testing grounds, currently located in New Jersey.
Previously, Verizon was the first carrier in the United States to usher in the 4G LTE service. By working together with their new Korean partners, the U.S. carrier is sure to win the 5G race.