Verizon CEO Expects 5G To Cover Half The Country By Next Year

Mobile carriers in the United States launched their 5G networks earlier this year. As you can probably imagine, coverage is limited to a handful of cities by now, but the carriers are working to rapidly expand coverage in major cities across the country. Verizon’s CEO actually believes that half of the United States will have 5G coverage by next year.

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg told CNBC today that almost half of the entire country should have functioning 5G by 2020. However, he pointed out that it might take until 2024 for half of the population to actually have a 5G phone to take advantage of the next-generation network.

The comments follow Verizon’s recent expansion of its nascent 5G service to four additional cities. The company now offers coverage in select areas of nine cities which include Atlanta, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Washington, D.C. as of yesterday. Verizon aimed to roll out the service in more than 30 cities by the end of this year, they will include Dallas, Boston, San Diego, and Phoenix.

5G smartphones are currently quite expensive. The adoption of this new network technology is really going to pick up when more devices are available for less money. That’s bound to happen in the coming years so one would expect 5G to establish a considerable user base by 2024.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: 5G, Verizon