4G Americas Evolves Name to 5G Americas

BELLEVUE, WA--(Marketwired - February 12, 2016) - 4G Americas, the industry trade association and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas, today officially announced its name change to 5G Americas.

"The name change to 5G Americas will not come as a surprise to the industry since the association has been contributing to the development of 5G for the past two years; however, its timing is significant given the growing effort to standardize our next generation of wireless technology," commented Tom Keathley, Chairman of 5G Americas and Senior Vice President, Wireless Network Architecture and Design at AT&T. "As the work to make 5G a reality ramps, it's a fitting time for 4G Americas to accept the mantle of 5G Americas, reflecting our focus on both LTE Evolution and the next generation of wireless technology, IMT 2020."

The association will build upon its success as 4G Americas by continuing to advocate for the advancement and full capabilities of LTE wireless technologies which will remain a leading mobile broadband technology for another decade, and the evolution to 5G, throughout the ecosystem's networks, services, applications and wirelessly connected devices in the Americas. 5G Americas will maintain its efforts in the following areas:

• Address standards recommendations, technical requirements and advocacy for LTE, LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro technologies and beyond
• Support the 3GPP technology path as it evolves to 5G technology
• Serve as a resource for information on LTE wireless technology and 5G throughout the Americas

4G Americas has been active in 5G development work for more than two years, and will represent the Americas region in planning and participating in the first Global 5G Event to be developed by leading 5G global organizations in Beijing, China on May 31-June 1, 2016. The worldwide organizations collaborating on 5G pre-standardization and planning the event are The Fifth Generation Mobile Communications Promotion Forum (5GMF) (Japan), 5G Forum (Republic of Korea), IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group (China) and The 5G Infrastructure Association - Public Private Partnership (5G PPP) (Europe). 

5G Americas will continue its 5G working groups, producing technical white papers, educating key stakeholders and liaising with global organizations to set the stage in the pre-standardization process while continuing to lead LTE wireless technology innovation for the Americas.

"5G is an important opportunity for the industry and the time has arrived to embrace the evolution by renaming our association to 5G Americas," stated Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas. "The organization has a new brand name that captures our vision for the industry and our 5G work. However, the foundation of the organization will not change as we continue to advocate for LTE wireless technology evolution progress as the foundation for 5G that will exist for decades to come."

Chris Pearson is a frequent expert spokesperson on the topic of 5G in the Americas and will be participating on the FierceWireless Executive Luncheon panel, "The Path to 5G: What operators need to do to prepare for the network of the future", at Mobile World Congress on February 23.

Recent white papers by the association on 5G spectrum and technology requirements are available for free download on the 5G Americas website at www.5gamericas.org.

Get to know more about 5G Americas by watching our video, "Introducing 5G Americas".

About 5G Americas: The Voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas

5G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of leading telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization's mission is to advocate for and foster the advancement and full capabilities of LTE wireless technology and its evolution beyond to 5G, throughout the ecosystem's networks, services, applications and wirelessly connected devices in the Americas. 5G Americas is invested in developing a connected wireless community while leading 5G development for all the Americas. 5G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and officially announced the change of the organization's name from 4G Americas on February 12, 2016. More information is available at www.5gamericas.org. Follow our news on Twitter at @5GAmericas and Facebook at www.facebook.com/5gamericas.

5G Americas' Board of Governors members include: América Móvil, AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Cisco, CommScope, Entel, Ericsson, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Intel, Mitel, Nokia, Qualcomm, Sprint, T-Mobile US, Inc. and Telefónica.

Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L99AqgBYBnw