In this 5G Exchange podcast powered by LightReading, Phil Harvey (US Buraeu Chief of Light Reading US) and Kelsey Ziser (5G Exchnage Curator) are joined by Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas. Pearson discusses how COVID-19 is affecting the progress of 5G in North America, forecasts for the deployment of standalone 5G and the potential impact of 5G on the IoT market.
On recent earnings calls, many service providers have reiterated their commitment to deploying 5G, and it appears COVID-19 hasn’t slowed down that progress, says Pearson.
“North America is definitely one of the leaders in terms of deployments, subscriptions and capabilities of their 5G networks,” says Pearson. “Right now, we’re at 69 deployments worldwide and, by the end of the year, we still expect 200. Some regions have stated that they’ll be a bit slower in terms of roll-outs, but the US isn’t one of them.”
Pearson also shares predictions for when standalone 5G will emerge and the potential barriers to commercial deployment.
Listen to the podcast below, or subscribe and download it from Google Play, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud or Spotify