According to Qualcomm and BT, the lab will focus on enabling the faster deployment of 5G tech and services
BT Group and Qualcomm have put together a new 5G laboratory in the U.K., located at Qualcomm Technologies’ offices in Farnborough, United Kingdom.
The 5G test lab will have BT Group’s live environment installed; BT Group runs the EE mobile network in the U.K.
While the companies, who have worked together on technology development for more than a decade, have not disclosed many details regarding which technologies and use cases are being explored at the lab, they did state that enabling faster deployment and commercialization of 5G features and services is a key focus.
“We are excited to announce our collaboration with BT for testing and validation of new 5G features and next-generation 5G services. Our state-of-the-art lab facilities will help facilitate and speed up the time-to-market, which means customers can benefit from the new technology sooner,” confirmed Vikrant Jain, director of business development, Qualcomm Technologies International.
BT senior manager of device technology Naveen Khapali further commented that by working in an “embedded 5G lab,” the pair can collaborate more closely, which will benefit customers by enhancing the development of advanced technology.
Earlier this year, EE expanded its 5G network infrastructure to cover hundreds of localities in rural areas of England, Wales and Scotland with the help of Qualcomm. The experiment was performed at BT’s Borehamwood lab, and used five 4G and two 5G spectrum bands.