FILE PHOTO -- A Verizon sign is seen at a retail store in San Diego, California, U.S. on April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc said on Wednesday it would offer its high-speed wireless 5G network to certain customers in 11 U.S. cities in the first half of 2017.

Verizon will begin pilot testing 5G "pre-commercial services" in cities, including Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

The company had said last July that it laid out plans to conduct trials for its 5G network this year.

New 5G networks are expected to provide speeds at least 10 times and up to maybe 100 times faster than today's 4G networks, with the potential to connect at least 100 billion devices with download speeds that can reach 10 gigabits per second.

AT&T Inc said in January that it planned to test its high-speed wireless 5G network for customers of its online streaming television service, DirecTv Now, in Austin, Texas.





(Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Martina D'Couto)