Following the inauguration of “CHT Pilot Team for the Taiwan 5G Alliance” on January 29 to accelerate 5G deployment, Chunghwa Telecom today announced a strategic partnership with Nokia at MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona, Spain. Chunghwa Telecom and Nokia will jointly build 5G trial network at designated sites in 2018 and 2019 to meet their goal of launching pre-commercial 5G network in 2020.
“Chunghwa Telecom plans to build a 5G trial network at the Chunghwa Telecom Laboratories in Taoyuan to verify key 5G technologies and applications services as well as interoperability between 4G and 5G networks,” said Chi-Mau Sheih, President of Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. “By working with Nokia, we will be able to complete the 5G trial network by late 2018 to provide a great 5G test and development platform for the CHT Pilot Team. The combination of the international industry leader’s technologies and Chunghwa Telecom’s solid R&D capabilities will give Taiwan an upper hand in 5G development.
“It’s our honor to team up with the CHT Pilot Team and strengthen our cooperation on 5G networks and applications,” said Michael Shieh, Vice President, Greater China for Nokia. “The cooperation will base on the Nokia Future X network architecture to utilize 3GPP-compliant 5G New Radio technology, cloud-based packet core networks, and low-latency communications technology while leveraging Nokia Bell Labs’ unparalleled innovation capabilities and in depth experience in mobile communications. Our aim is to facilitate the deployment of commercial 5G network and connections between applications across industries by introducing the latest 5G technology to Taiwan and exploring new business models in collaboration with Chunghwa Telecom.”
To ensure successful launch of pre-commercial 5G network in 2020, Chunghwa Telecom and Nokia will not only verify the interoperability between 4G and 5G networks in 2018, they will also create a standalone 5G trial environment in 2019 in alignment with the timeline of 5G standardization to lead the development of 5G in Taiwan.