As early 5G network deployments get underway, Ookla Speedtest has published an interactive online map of locations where 5G networks can be found.
The company has identified 20 operators around the world that have 303 active 5G deployments in 294 locations. That doesn’t translate to 294 individual 5G sites; the locations are identified at a city level. And Ookla is only counting 5G New Radio deployments, not Verizon’s 5G TF or AT&T’s “5G Evolution” markets, which incorporate technologies that most operators identify as advanced LTE.
Ookla puts the 5G deployments into two categories: commercial availability, meaning that a device is available that any consumer can purchase and use on the 5G network; or “limited availability,” meaning that a 5G network is present, but only select users have access to it — so it’s often still in the testing phase.
Of the 21 U.S. cities where Ookla has identified an active 5G network, most of them are considered limited availability deployments, via AT&T’s network. The commercial deployment locations include Verizon’s network in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Chicago, Illinois. The company said in a blog entry that the data is currently based on press releases and other publicly available communications, but that “as deployments continue to become commercially available and tests taken with Speedtest use a 5G connection, identified deployments will also be based on Ookla data.”
While Ookla identifies 15 5G deployment locations in South Korea (most of them in and around Seoul), the current leader in terms of sheer number of covered locations is Switzerland, where Ookla’s 5G map lists more than 200 cities with active deployments. Oppo’s Reno 5G smartphone is available to Swisscom subscribers, and sales of Chinese device vendor Xiaomi’s 5G-capable Mi Mix 3 device also began in Switzerland earlier this month from Swiss carrier Sunrise.
Ookla’s 5G map has a pin for cities with deployments, with details including the city name, the mobile network operator who is running the 5G network, and whether the deployment is commercial or limited availability.
Ookla says it will be updating its 5G map weekly. In addition to the roll-outs in the U.S., Switzerland and South Korea, the company said that it is tracking 5G deployments in European countries including Estonia, Finland, Spain and Italy, as well as in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa.
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