KDDI already partnered with Ericsson on 5G
Japanese telecoms operator KDDI and Finnish vendor Nokia plan to sign an agreement to jointly develop experimental 5G technologies, Japanese press reported.
According to the reports, both KDDI and Nokia still need to define the final details of the agreement.
KDDI has already partnered with Swedish vendor Ericsson to develop 5G technologies. In September 2015, both firms had signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on 5G research and development with an eye on potential uses and deployment strategies.
Under the agreement, KDDI and Ericsson plan to develop a joint understanding of 5G use cases, requirements and deployment scenarios, as well as evaluate performance and applicability of potential 5G key technology components.
Other Japanese telcos are also collaborating with telecoms companies and vendors for the development of 5G technologies.
Since May 2014, local operator NTT DoCoMo has been collaborating in the 5G field with leading vendors including Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Huawei, Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Nokia and Samsung. The Japanese telco signed additional 5G collaboration agreements with Intel, Keysight Technologies, Panasonic, Qualcomm and Rohde & Schwarz with respect to trials and technological development of 5G mobile communications.
Meanwhile, SoftBank is conducting 5G research and development in cooperation with Chinese telecom equipment makers Huawei Technologies and ZTE.
