The two companies plan to evaluate technical and commercial feasibility of 5G research.
Huawei and U.K. telecommunications provider BT have partnered to carry out joint “5G” research activities. The agreement calls for the companies to evaluate the technical and commercial feasibility of the deployment of 5G technologies.
BT and Huawei said they will work together at BT Labs in Ipswich and other locations around the U.K. Research activities include network architecture; a new air interface between devices and base stations; network slicing; machine-to-machine communications in “internet of things” applications; and security technologies.
“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,” said BT CEO Gavin Patterson. “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.”
The two companies recently announced trials of a 3 terabit per second data transfer over BT’s core network, as well as research into 40 gigabit per second speeds in BT’s Openreach subsidiary.
In October, Huawei and Vodafone tested 5G mobile connectivity using high- and low-frequency bands. The tests demonstrated 1.5 kilometer cell coverage in the lower C-Band and 5 Gbps peak throughput for a single user in the high band. Huawei and Vodafone signed a 5G strategic memorandum of understanding in 2015, and a 5G technologies acceleration MoU earlier this year.
