Ericsson, BT and King's College London to partner on 5G development

Together with university research partner King's College London, Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and BT have signed a multi-year collaboration agreement on 5G testing and development. The college will contribute with low-latency use cases and specialized knowledge in communication technologies, robotics and haptic control.

The collaboration will focus on creating 5G use cases in commercial and consumer markets, with a focus on mission-critical services such as medical applications. It will involve research into the technical and economic aspects of key 5G-enabling technologies.

With the ambition to be first to market with 5G services in the UK, BT has worked with Ericsson to build a 5G Proof of Concept Center at the BT Labs in Adastral Park, Ipswich. With access to the 5G for Europe core network - linking multiple centers and universities across Europe - Ericsson and BT are testing the network architecture needed to most efficiently deliver commercial 5G services.

Howard Watson, CEO, BT Technology, service & operations, and BT Group CIO, (pictured right) said: "The initial focus of the collaboration is on Proof of Concept solutions and trials of services needing both high availability and low latency - both key features of the forthcoming 5G technology.