M+E Connections

AT&T Steps Up Mobile 5G Plans as Company Eyes ‘Synergies’ from Time Warner Merger

AT&T stepped up its mobile 5G plans on multiple fronts as the company eyed achieving various “synergies” via its recently-completed merger with Time Warner.

The company now plans to introduce mobile 5G in parts of five additional cities — Houston, Jacksonville, Louisville, New Orleans and San Antonio — this year, it announced Sept. 10. Those cities are in addition to the seven cities it previously announced plans to launch mobile 5G in during 2018: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Raleigh and Waco.

In early 2019, AT&T will “keep our 5G momentum going and plan to introduce mobile 5G in parts of” Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose also, the company said Sept. 10, adding: “From these 19 cities, we’ll continue to expand.”

Over the weekend of Sept. 8-9 in Waco, meanwhile, AT&T made “the world’s first wireless 5G data transfer over millimeter wave using standards-based, production equipment with a mobile form factor device,” it said.

“We’re at the dawn of something new that will define the next decade and generation of connectivity,” Andre Fuetsch, CTO of AT&T Communications, said in the news release. He added: “Future smart factories and retailers, self-driving cars, untethered virtual and augmented realities, and other yet to be discovered experiences will grow up on tomorrow’s 5G networks. Much like 4G introduced the world to the gig economy, mobile 5G will jumpstart the next wave of unforeseen innovation.”

AT&T’s 5G deployment strategy will include using millimeter wave spectrum to “deploy 5G in pockets of dense areas — where demand on our network is high and extra capacity and coverage is needed most,” the company said, adding: “In other parts of urban areas and in suburban and rural areas, we plan to deploy 5G on our mid and low-band spectrum holdings. We’ve been encouraged by the performance of mmWave in our 5G trials and found that it performs better than expected and is successful in delivering ultra-high wireless speeds under a variety of conditions.” 

Over the next few months, AT&T will “start creating 5G-enabled technologies with the potential to disrupt entire industries at our AT&T Foundry innovation center in Plano,” it also said. The company will, meanwhile, outfit its Foundry innovation centers in Atlanta and Palo Alto with 5G, focusing on Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities concepts and test consumer-focused applications like virtual reality gaming and volumetric video, it said.

AT&T said in a separate news release the same day that it selected Samsung Electronics America and CommScope to supply the company with its first 5G-ready Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) network solution. Samsung will provide CBRS compliant radios and base station equipment, while CommScope was tapped as the Spectrum Access System (SAS) provider. As part of the rollout, AT&T will start by using LTE in CBRS Spectrum and then migrate to 5G, it said.

On the same day, AT&T CFO John Stephens said during an investor call that the company was “committed to realizing the synergies” from its merger with Time Warner and “using those to grow our” earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).

There are now four reporting AT&T business divisions after the merger, he pointed out: Communications, including Mobility (U.S.), Entertainment Group and Business Wireline; WarnerMedia, including HBO, Turner and Warner Bros.; Latin America, including Mexico and Vrio, AT&T’s Vrio DirecTV business in the region; and Advertising.

The company will start including those divisions with its results for the third quarter that will be announced Oct. 24. The merger was completed June 14 and AT&T’s results for the second quarter (ended June 30) only included 16 days of Time Warner results, it said.

“While we have committed to running Turner as a separate business, pending the Department of Justice appeal” of a judge’s approval of the AT&T-Time Warner merger, “we intend to move the results of some of our other network properties, such as our regional sports networks, under Turner when we report quarterly results,” Stephens also said Sept. 10.