The EU has just signed a milestone agreement with China to help rapidly develop 5G networks.
Developing and rolling out 5G is a mammoth job which isn’t likely to be completed until sometime in the 2020’s, but to help speed things along the EU and China have just signed an important agreement.
The agreement was signed during today’s EU-China High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue in Beijing and it’s a signal that the two will strengthen cooperation to reach a global understanding on the concept, time plan and functionalities of 5G by the end of 2015.
It will also allow them to explore and implement joint research actions on 5G and the Internet of Things, jointly promote global standardisation for 5G and cooperate in facilitating the identification of the most promising radio frequency bands to meet the spectrum requirements for 5G.
The agreement follows similar ones with Japan and South Korea and it’s hugely significant to the European Commission, which is investing €700 million into 5G research and innovation, because China is likely to be a big part of the development of 5G and could also be the world’s largest market for 5G technologies, products and services.
European Commissioner Günther Oettinger said: "5G will be the backbone of our digital economies and societies worldwide. This is why we strongly support and seek a global consensus and cooperation on 5G.
“With today's signature with China, the EU has now teamed up with the most important Asian partners in a global race to make 5G a reality by 2020. It's a crucial step in making 5G a success."
But while this is a big step towards making Europe a 5G powerhouse there’s still a long way to go, as the reality of how 5G will even work hasn’t yet been finalised and once it has it will require enormous amounts of time and money from mobile networks to roll it out.
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