The equipment for which Verizon’s biding its time will be able to receive 5G signals from transmitters that are much further away than current gear and routers can connect to, executive Ronan Dunne said (as reported by Light Reading). Once those devices are available, Verizon will be able to significantly expand the 5G Home coverage area. The current equipment uses a standard smartphone chipset, and “the footprint is significantly smaller,” Dunne said. Verizon aims to cover 30 million US households with 5G Home service in the next five to seven years, he noted.

It’s actually not the first time Verizon has delayed the expansion of the 5G Home network. It did so last January for similar reasons. Verizon’s 5G Home service debuted in parts of Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Sacramento in October 2018. It flipped the switch on the network in Chicago late last year. The 5G Home network is different from the 5G mobile network.