5G deployments. 22 active, dozens more soon. (July)

July 25, I count 22 carriers that are selling 5G actively and about a dozen that are mostly pr.  Literally dozens more are queued up. Alan Hadden counts 269 network operators investing in 5G in 102 countries. Do check the charts below.

All but 2 are using mid-band and likely delivering between 100 and 500 Mbps. 500-1,000 Mbps is possible outdoors in the right location. The first data on average speeds comes from Korea and is less than 200 Mbps. That makes sense because ~80% of connections are indoors. It will get better but not by that much.

Latency is between 25 & 35 milliseconds on most tests. That can be reduced to 12-20 ms by putting servers near the towers. The Chinese will install servers for over a billion people in the next few years. Almost everyone is testing or considering Edge networks but no carrier in the West has made a large commitment.

Verizon and parts of T-Mobile U.S. are using millimetre wave, with about three times the capacity.