AT&T CEO on Sprint 5G E ‘deception’ lawsuit: Label stands for 'evolution'

AT&T, an industry leader in transforming mobile services, is under fire for allegedly misleading consumers over its 5G E network label on smartphones.

Its rival Sprint is suing the mobile carrier over alleged deceptive advertising. However, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said 5G E stands for the progression of new technology, even though the service is still 4G-based.

“This is all a precurser on how you get to 5G,” Stephenson said during an exclusive interview with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on Thursday. “That’s why we call it 5G Evolution — it’s an evolutionary step.”

The 5G Evolution service is currently in 400 markets across the U.S., according to Stephenson, and he added that AT&T will roll out some full 5G phones across the U.S. throughout the year.

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“There aren’t any 5G, what I’ll call full 5G phones, available in the market,” he said. “We’ll have some in the market this year – Samsung and some others are putting some phones into the market; we’ll be selling those and you can get a full 5G experience.”