In December 2016, we launched the industry’s first business customer trial with Ericsson and Intel in Austin. Many trials and key learnings later, we’ve gone from 5G being years away to now seeing it begin just over the horizon. We expect to be the first U.S. carrier to launch mobile 5G by the end of this year.
But for all the talk, it's often hard for people to truly grasp what 5G ultimately will do. Seeing 5G in action has been hard for many to experience.
The industry frequently highlights how virtual and augmented reality, self-driving cars, telemedicine and various other industries will be transformed by this technology. I even interviewed our AT&T Business CEO Thaddeus Arroyo a few weeks back on some of the transformative business experiences we might see from 5G.
Which leads me to the next 2 weeks. Instead of talking about it, we're going to show people the power of 5G in person.
At our SHAPE event in Los Angeles June 2–3, we’re working with Ericsson and Intel to demonstrate an augmented reality experience being transformed by 5G.
In short, this 3-way augmented reality demo lets you virtually attend a live concert with a friend from 3 distinct locations - just like you're all in the room together. This experience will be enabled by AT&T 5G and edge computing capabilities.
Can’t make it to experience our 5G demo at SHAPE? No worries. You can still catch the livestream of Intel’s Immersive Media and 5G session on June 3 at 3 p.m. PT.
But that’s not all. A couple weeks later we’ll take a similar 5G demonstration over to the widely popular E3 Gaming Conference in Los Angeles. This time we’ll replace the entertainment focus for, well, gaming.
Finally, we’ll switch coasts and collaborate with FOX Sports, Ericsson and Intel to stream 4K video over 5G for a potential broadcast nationwide at the upcoming 118th U.S. Open Championship.
We’re 5G’ing the 7th hole of the U.S. Open – how cool is that?
The point of all this is our 5G dreams are inching that much closer to reality. People will start to see what we’ve been working on since we first started sharing our 5G roadmap back in February 2016.
There is so much more to come in this journey. We’ve talked about how we’re building a 5G home. In the next few weeks, we’re inviting you to come on in…take a seat on our couch…kick up your feet…and watch how 5G will change your world.
Melissa Arnoldi is president of AT&T Technology & Operations
