Verizon Wireless to field test its 5G network in 2016

Verizon Wireless' new 5G network development could offer incredibly fast speeds for smartphones and tablets. 

The company is set to test its new network in 2016 and claims it will have "50 times the throughput of the carrier's current 4G LTE network", according to media reports.

The 5G network is currently being developed in Verizon's Waltham, Massachusetts and San Francisco Innovation Centres in the US.

The announcement makes Verizon the first US operator to reveal it is in the works to create a faster network and plans to work with numerous partners to make it available soon.

The chief information and technology architect for Verizon, Roger Gurnani, revealed in an interview with CNET, that the company aims to offer its 5G network sometime in 2017, but did not reveal which US markets will be the first to have its faster network.

Watch: Verizon Experts working to make the next wave of wireless network technology