China announced on Tuesday its schedule to promote 5G technology to a pre-commercial standard, People’s Daily reports.
The international standards organization 3GPP will approve the first international standardization of 5G in June this year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MITT).
Zhang Feng, chief engineer at MITT, said at a press conference in Beijing “China’s 5G research and development efforts have entered a key phase of standards-setting, laying a solid foundation for further tests.” He added that “China encourages domestic enterprises as well as foreign ones to participate in relevant research and tests in order to better guide the rapid and steady development of 5G.”
The press-conference, emphasizing a theme of “one world, one standard” in relation to 5G, comes in the same week that the US Trump administration is considering nationalisation of the technology.