A pair of efforts to bring 5G telecommunication technology to portions of Austin is welcome news to proponents of the smart city capabilities available with widespread use. But the city still lags far behind other Texas cities in installation of the street-level “cells” needed to enable the standard that tech experts expect will start becoming widely available on consumer devices next year. Late last month AT&T and Samsung announced a partnership to create a 5G innovation zone on Samsung Austin Semiconductor’s 160-acre campus in North Austin. And the city’s Communications and Technology Management Division recently prepared a pre-proposal document that could lead to a collaboration with Texas A&M University and Texas State University to bring 5G cells to a portion of the Riverside Drive community just east of downtown Austin.