U.S. Cellular customers in Racine will be among the first in the state to access 5G after the company launched the new network service in the city this morning.
Racine Mayor Cory Mason joined U.S. Cellular representatives for the official launch and made the first 5G Google Duo video call to Walden III, where students were learning more about technology during an “Ask an engineer” session held on Racine’s north side at Cesar Chavez Community Center of Racine.
Racine U.S. Cellular customers will also soon have access the company’s new 5G network via the launch of the 5G-ready Samsung Galaxy S20 5G, S20+ 5G and S20 Ultra 5G on March 6, according to a press release.
Last year, Racine was named one of five winners in the Smart Cities Readiness Challenge, which gave the city access to financing and a variety of resources to help the public sector and businesses build a smarter and more sustainable society.
Racine also struck a cooperative agreement with Foxconn’s Wisconsin subsidiary last year. The deal outlines a number of activities FEWI Development Corp. and the city will engage in collaboratively “on projects of mutual agreement” to pursue smart city ideas.
Other mobile carriers are bringing 5G to the state, including AT&T, which announced plans late last year to launch its 5G network this month in certain parts of the Milwaukee area. Cleveland-based Everstream also has plans to invest $27 million to expand its fiber network into the metro Milwaukee ahead of the Democratic National Convention in July.
In 2018, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill intended to help speed the introduction of 5G to the state. In October, Chicago-based U.S. Cellular said that customers in Wisconsin and Iowa will have access to its 5G network.
