Three has confirmed that it is delaying its 5G launch until 2020.
The operator, which is the only Irish network without a 5G service, had repeatedly promised that it would launch the higher speeds by the end of 2019.
However, the company now says that a rollout will be in 2020 rather than this year, claiming that there is “no demand” for it.
“Rather than launch with a small number of sites this year, as other operators have done, we will launch with a substantial footprint in 2020,” said a spokeswoman.
“As a lot of the technology that will exploit the benefits of 5G, including 5G enabled smartphones, are currently limited in availability, there is no demand that requires an immediate launch.”
Industry sources say that an additional reason may be protracted negotiations with network equipment providers.
The operator is believed to be in negotiations with Huawei on the installation and rollout of 5G network infrastructure. But Three says that the issue is “commercially sensitive”.
Huawei has become embroiled in a global trade and political trade war over the last 12 months, with western telecoms operators increasingly reluctant to talk about their relationships with the Chinese networking firm. The majority shareholder of Hong Kong owned Three, Li Kashing, has recently drawn criticism from Chinese authorities for perceived support for Hong Kong protestors.
However, Huawei is generally seen as having the most advanced 5G network infrastructure.
Eir Mobile, which uses some Huawei equipment for its 5G network, has over 100 different 5G sites around Irish cities, while Vodafone has approximately 20 in the same cities.
The main difference between 5G and 4G is speed and ‘latency’, with 5G coverage able to download large files almost instantly or stream high resolution video without any delays or buffering. G speeds can generally reach up to 1,000Mbs.
Yesterday, Three executives held an event in Dublin extolling to business customers the potential of 5G technology to help companies with services that rely on processes such as the ‘internet of things’.
Other than information and entertainment, 5G is seen as being important for future industry and commercial needs, such as self-driving cars and advanced telemedicine.
Existing 4G phones, such as the iPhone 11, will not be able to pick up a 5G signal.
In Ireland there are only a few handset models capable of receiving a 5G signal. Huawei launched its Mate 20X 5G here, a giant 7.2-inch smartphone. Samsung also has three 5G-compatible models, the S10 5G, A90 5G and Note 10+ 5G.
Eir Mobile’s 5G service is available in the towns of Carlow, Castlebar, Dundalk, Drogheda and Kilkenny.
The company says that it will soon on another 100 masts in Athlone, Bray, Ennis, Letterkenny, Sligo, Tralee, Trim, while a further 100 masts will be switched on in early 2020, it says.
However, the operator is restricting the service to two expensive monthly plans – Connect Plus (€60) and Connect Complete (€70), with a €10 discount for Eir broadband subscribers.
It is also not making the service available to any of its prepay customers.
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