Nokia and MediaTek announced a new 5G partnership at Mobile World Congress (MWC) on Monday. The Taiwanese tech giant and the Finnish manufacturer of telecommunications equipment are looking to collaborate on developing a 5G-enabled ecosystem that’s ready for commercial implementation, the companies revealed. The newly announced partnership is seen as an extension of the efforts Nokia and MediaTek are putting into contributing to the standardization of the fifth generation mobile networks while adhering to the guidelines defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
MediaTek and Nokia said that the first results of their partnership will be observable in 2018 when the two tech giants are hoping to introduce a pre-commercial platform designed for supporting 5G New Radio communications. The platform will be in line with all of the existing standards and the companies see it as the first step towards their ultimate goal of driving the advancement of 5G technologies. The collaboration will see Nokia develop a 5G network with MediaTek creating a 5G-ready system-on-chip (SoC) designed to power future handsets. Both companies are excited by the prospects 5G technology brings to the table, which is why they’re adamant to join forces and help facilitate its commercialization. Kevin Jou, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at MediaTek said that the ultimate goal of the partnership is to present wireless service providers with a complete, end-to-end solution for implementing 5G technologies into their portfolio.
The collaboration has significant implications for Nokia and MediaTek, as well as the telecommunications industry as a whole provided that the companies manage to come up with a viable pre-commercial solution by 2018. According to current estimates, first commercial implementation of 5G technologies won’t be conducted prior to 2020 as standards bodies are still working on defining what 5G will actually entail. Regardless of whether the largest advancements in this field will end up being driven by Nokia, MediaTek or someone else entirely, the technology as a whole has the potential to completely change the industry since better speeds and other improvements will allow for everything from contemporary autonomous vehicles to futuristic Internet of Things solutions. More details on Nokia and MediaTek’s new partnership will likely follow in the coming months.