American multinational telecommunications company AT&T recently announced that it is planning to test a 5G mobile network, a super fast network that is 100 times faster than our current 3G and LTE connections. Together with American semiconductor Intel and Swedish company Ericsson, the company will begin preliminary tests later this year.

Ahead of the race

Other global telecommunications companies are set to deploy 5G connections by 2020, but AT&T insists on taking the lead. The company envisions this mobile network greatly impacting and benefiting the adoption of new critical technologies as the need to communicate large amounts of data very quickly continues to increase.

"New experiences like virtual reality, self-driving cars, robotics, smart cities and more are about to test networks like never before.These technologies will be immersive, pervasive and responsive to customers. 5G will help make them a reality," said AT&T chief strategy officer John Donovan.

AT&T is all set to conduct lab tests in Austin, Texas before the year ends. "The trials will help guide our 5G standards contributions, and set the stage for widespread commercial and mobile availability once technology standards for 5G are established," AT&T said.

How will this affect us?

Nowadays, it is so easy to get connected. With the onset of 5G mobile networks, what can we expect to improve?

Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance describes 5G networks to have data rates of several tens of megabits per second, with support for tens of thousands of users simultaneously. It is also expected that it will have wider coverage and enhanced signals. It should also have reduced latency as compared to our current LTE connections.

Check out the video below how 5G networks work below


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