The residential broadband network will be deployed in the second half of 2018, according to a Verizon news release, with setups in two to four more cities expected to follow shortly thereafter. Sacramento was the first of 11 cities Verizon picked to sample its fifth-generation Internet access speed in summer 2017, and city leaders made it clear they wanted more.
The Sacramento City Council signed off on a deal in June allowing Verizon to secure small cell towers on 101 utility poles, expand their fiber-optic capacity and move quickly through the municipal permitting process. In exchange, the company committed to establishing 5G infrastructure throughout the city and installing free Wi-Fi at 27 parks, among other amenities.
Mayor Darryl Steinberg previously told the Bee he hoped being one of the first cities with 5G would help Sacramento draw more tech start-ups from the Bay Area.
5G service connects radio signals from small cell towers instead of relying on copper or fiber-optic cables, and is expected to be mainstream by 2020. Verizon’s trial runs showed speeds of up to 40 times faster than 4G — quick enough to download a full-length film in 15 seconds.
©2017 The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
