Verizon has announced that it will be launching 5G in Los Angeles, with the mobile network to be deployed in the last quarter of 2018.

Labelling Los Angeles and Sacramento -- where Verizon 5G will launch first -- "progressive-minded cities", Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said 5G networks are "a lot closer than people think".

Verizon has yet to announce the other locations in the three to five cities that will make up its early 5G deployment plans.

McAdam said Verizon will be making use of millimetre-wave (mmWave) spectrum for its 5G networks, having trialled the technology across 11 locations in 2017.

After last year signalling an acceleration of its 5G New Radio (NR) field trials with a goal of launching its next-generation mobile networks in 2019, Verizon in November said it would deploy between three and five 5G networks across the United States starting next year.