ZTE, Qualcomm collaborate to speed up deployment of 5G technology

China's technology giant ZTE and US-based Qualcomm Technologies have announced that they will team up with Italy's largest mobile operator Wind Tre to conduct testing and field trials of new 5G mobile broadband standards currently under development, reports Sina.com.

View of ZTE Corporate Center (Shanghai) in Shanghai [File Photo: IC]

The testing is to validate new 5G services and technology, enabling the timely launch of commercial networks based on the new standards for 5G infrastructure and devices.

The trials are expected to showcase the ability of 5G technology to achieve multi-gigabit per second data transmission speeds. The trials will utilize solutions provided by ZTE for 5G data transmission to device prototypes from Qualcomm Technologies, using guidelines provided by Wind Tre.

Bai Yanmin, general manager of ZTE's 5G products division, said the company has launched a full range of 5G products and services, and it is testing key technologies, solutions, and network models together with the company's industry partners. Bai said that the detailed field tests would solve potential problems prior to large-scale commercial use of the new 5G technology. He hopes that the company will become one of the world's first suppliers of commercial 5G equipment.

The logo for the 5G technology as seen during the 2017 China Mobile Global Partners Conference in Guangzhou [Photo: IC]

The 5G technology is set to meet the increasing consumer demand for enhanced mobile broadband experiences, and will lay the foundations for services in fields such as smart cities, smart energy, e-health, and Industry 4.0.

Several global high-tech companies, including ZTE and Qualcomm Technologies, made a statement on Thursday saying that the completion of the first standards for the 5G technology has set the stage for the global mobile industry to start large-scale trials and commercial development of the 5G technology as early as in 2019.

A key player in the design of the global 5G standards, China is expected to be the world's largest 5G market by 2025, according to a report released earlier in December by GSMA Intelligence, a global mobile think tank, and China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.