“There have not been any unique challenges in Sac-
ramento,” Flato said in an email. “Working with for-
ward-thinking city leaders in our initial launch markets has
helped make the process run smoothly.”
A BROADER NETWORK
The public-private partnership is bigger than 5G. It’s a coop-
erative agreement that includes support for STEM programs,
improvements to public safety at key intersections and other
initiatives.
In December, Verizon supported two Learn to Solder
workshops, where middle school students learned to build
video games. During the first NorCal Robo Rumble in Sac-
ramento in January, students competed against each other
with hand-built robots. The one-day event was hosted by
Maker HQ, a local nonprofit, in partnership with the city and
Verizon, Flato says. Verizon says it has started its deployment
of traffic data services to better understand traffic flow and
congestion.
One of the key promises of the partnership is Wi-Fi in the
parks. In November, the city and Verizon decided to scrap the
plan to install 15 Verizon digital kiosks throughout the city,
which was supposed to, among other things, help bring free
Wi-Fi to parks. The reason for the change isn’t clear. The city
said there wasn’t a long-term strategy and later added that,
within the agreement, it was considered a benefit for Verizon,
but not essential. According to Flato, Verizon will be deliver-
ing Wi-Fi connectivity to 27 Sacramento parks starting this
summer.
When asked about delays, officials claim the city is still on
track. The agreement calls for each solution to be implement-
ed on a rolling basis, within two years of fiber being laid at
specific locations. Verizon has promised to deploy more than
180 miles of fiber optic cable in Sacramento. As of March, 67
percent of fiber had been installed, which officials say puts
Sacramento “well within the terms of our agreement with re-
gard to the deployment of our Smart City solutions.”
CALLING DIBS
In theory, any wireless carrier could deploy its own 5G net-
work in Sacramento; the contract with Verizon isn’t exclu-
sive. But the poles are set up on a first-come, first-served ba-
sis, and multiple carriers can’t operate on one pole.
Sprint didn’t respond about any plans to roll out a 5G net-
work in Sacramento. AT&T has not announced its mobile 5G
timing for Sacramento, according to Ryan Oliver, media rela-
tions director for the west region of AT&T Global. For home
service, the company offers AT&T Internet 1000, powered
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