BT and Huawei have announced a joint 5G research partnership, claiming their joint initiative will see them lead the global development of 5G mobile technologies.
In a statement BT said: 'BT and Huawei have come together to lead the global development of 5G mobile technologies. '¦ It is hoped the research will drive the development and standardization of 5G technologies throughout the industry.'
According to BT, 'The new partnership will see the companies conduct pioneering joint research into 5G, considering how faster mobile communication technologies might be applied, as well as the technical and commercial feasibility of deploying them.'
The two organizations will work together at BT Labs in Ipswich and other locations around the UK to explore various aspects of 5G, including: network architecture; a new air interface between devices and base stations; '˜network slicing' - which will allow operators to apportion network resources to specific services; machine-to-machine communications in Internet of Things (IoT) applications and security technologies.
BT CEO, Gavin Patterson, said: 'We are determined to maximize the potential of 5G for our customers, so collaborative research has a key role to play as the technology develops. This partnership with Huawei will see us explore the potential uses and make sure 5G is designed to meet the needs of our consumer and business customers throughout the world.'
He added: 'Huawei and BT have a strong record of collaboration when it comes to developing cutting-edge communications technologies, and we're pleased to be building on that relationship to pioneer tomorrow's mobile services.'
BT said that most recently it had collaborated with Huawei to trial 3Tbps data transfer over BT's core network and has undertaken research into 40Gbps speeds in the Openreach access network.
Ken Hu, deputy chairman of the board and rotating CEO at Huawei, said: 'We are very proud of our work with BT over the last eleven years. We have conducted joint research and development activities that have led to new products and solutions, and with 5G we look forward to continuing this fruitful partnership.'
