Telenor this week announced it will kick off a new pilot for its budding 5G network, in Norway, in Q2 2019. The soft trial will run for about a year, followed by hard commercial launch to Norwegian consumers and businesses in 2020.

Telenor is among the few 5G leaders in Western Europe, a region that is generally lagging behind 5G pioneers in places like South Korea.

By waiting until 2020, Telenor will be able to secure a robust supply of 5G smartphones and wearables to run on its 5G towers next year. Telenor can expect to see plenty of 5G smartphone models available, from Samsung, Huawei, Apple and others, as detailed in this report here.