LOS ANGELES -- Sprint enlisted its CTO, John Saw, last week to show off how it is deploying 5G -- and updating its 4G LTE -- downtown in the City of Angels.

Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) says it will deploy mobile 5G in the US on the 2.5GHz band in the first half of 2019. The operator is promising to have a "cool" phone for the network. (See 5G in the USA: Where We at With Mobile? and Sprint Reveals 3 More 5G Cities, Promises 'Cool' 5G Phone & Small Cell.)

The operator is using massive MIMO (massive input, massive output) antennas to deploy 4G LTE and 5G New Radio (5G NR) in a "split" mode on 2.5GHz. (See Sprint's Massive MIMO 'Lynchpin' for 5G.)

Click on the picture below to start the slideshow.

5G Above the City Sprint is deploying "split" 5G NR and 4G LTE in the Fashion District in downtown LA.

John Saw promises "hundreds of megabits" from the mobile service, with a footprint from "here [downtown LA] to Santa Monica."

This, of course, is Sprint's initial plan for 5G. The operator will combine 600MHz low-band spectrum with its 2.5GHz band, and millimeter wave, if its $26.5 billion merger with T-Mobile US Inc. is approved in 2019. (See Sprint's Claure: US 5G Leadership Depends on T-Mobile Merger.)

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading