Sprint Corp. is preparing Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., for 5G services.

The U.S. carrier said Feb. 27 that it expects to deploy advanced network technology, called Massive MIMO, across the U.S. in 2018 and 2019. Customers in Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles will be able to use "5G-like capabilities," with additional markets, including Atlanta, Houston and Washington, D.C., to receive the service later this year.

The move comes as Sprint is working to launch its 5G mobile network in the first half of 2019. Sprint will deploy 64T64R Massive MIMO radios using 128 antennas in partnership with companies like Ericsson, Nokia Corp., and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.