Summary: Independent telecoms/mobile consultant Alan Hadden provides a market reality check on the status of operator activities in 5G, reporting on global deployments and commercial launches of 5G NR networks. According to Hadden’s latest research, a total of 58 network operators have now commercially launched 5G services, in 32 countries. A total of 336 network operators are investing in 5G in 118 countries, pursuing activities ranging from studies, technology trials, pilot networks, commercial network deployments and – as indicated above, commercial service launches. The list of 58 launched 5G networks and their operating spectrum bands will shortly be published as a free download here. Hadden’s research confirms: The number of commercially launched networks globally increased 75% since June 2019 The number of operators worldwide that are investing in 5G-related activities increased 25% during the same period The choice of spectrum used in 5G network deployments has also been examined: Over 50 operators (approaching 90%) use sub-6GHz bands for commercial 5G services currently, mostly in the 3.4-3.8 GHz range Four operators use mmWave bands Note: some operators use more than one band for 5G service. Confirmation of bands in commercial use is awaited from 3 operators. More 5G-related charts and documents are also available here. Likes