SingTel, Huawei sign MOU on 5G technology development

TELCO giants SingTel and Huawei are working together on the next generation of mobile broadband technologies.

The two have signed a memorandum of understanding to launch the Fifth Generation (5G) Joint Innovation Program, a press release said.

The programme will serve as a research hub for 5G mobile broadband technologies.

"Both parties shall also endeavour to set up a team to conduct the 5G trial which will deliver the near-zero-delay and near-zero-distance experience to SingTel's customers," the release said.

The current set of network standards in the world is dubbed 4G. The difference between the next generation of networks from the current one could be speed, number of devices simultaneously connected, or efficiency.

The release said that the commercial operation of 5G telecom services is expected to start globally by 2020 and is estimated to provide 1,000 times more capacity than current mobile broadband networks.

By then, it is estimated that some 6.5 billion people around the world will use mobile networks for data communications and 100 billion additional products and devices, such as vehicles, home appliances, and medical devices, will also be connected via mobile networks.

SingTel is trading at 9.45am on Thursday at S$3.90, down three cents or 0.8 per cent.