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Buckle up, Houston, you’ll soon be getting 5G service from Verizon

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Everything is bigger in Texas, and now, everything might be faster, too. That’s right, 5G is coming to Houston, and it’s all thanks to Verizon. On Tuesday, July 24, the mobile service provider announced that it will be bringing 5G technology to the Texas metropolis in the second half of 2018. Houston serves as the third city Verizon has determined to be part of its four market 5G plan, which will offer residential 5G broadband service. Already, Verizon has announced that the service will be available in Sacramento and Los Angeles.

“We expect 5G will be a game-changer helping us usher in a new wave of progress and innovation,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a statement. “We’re delighted to be one of the first cities to bring 5G to our local communities and look forward to continuing our long-standing relationship with Verizon.”

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The new 5G network will provide high-speed connections to those who might be able to benefit the most from them. Verizon and Houston’s plan will be to serve five traditionally under-resourced neighborhoods. This initiative comes as part of the mayor’s Complete Communities program, which seeks to provide city services equally.

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“We will be the first to offer commercial 5G service and our work with Houston put us one step closer to delivering that promise,” incoming Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said. “With 5G we are ushering in a fourth industrial revolution that will help reshape cities and lead to unprecedented innovation, and Houston will be at the forefront of that innovation.”

Verizon’s announcement comes as part of its second-quarter earnings, which proved to be quite positive for the largest mobile carrier in the U.S. Verizon added 531,000 new subscribers over the course of the last three months, including 199,000 mobile phone users. As Verizon continues to build network infrastructure for next-generation technology like 5G, it seems likely that these numbers will continue to burgeon. The company plans to roll out 5G nationally in just a couple years.

In order to make a splash with its 5G internet rollout, it seems that Verizon is considering teaming up with Google to offer a streaming TV service. This would allow the company to depend upon YouTube TV in order to offer live shows. It’s unclear how much the 5G service would cost, though given that YouTube TV currently sets folks back about $40 a month, that seems like a reasonable ballpark to target. Apple is another option, though given that Apple TV (the service, not the hardware) isn’t slated to launch for a while longer, it may not be the top choice.

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