Nokia last week announced an agreement with the world’s largest wireless carrier to develop a 5G and artificial intelligence research facility in China.
The Finnish telecom equipment giant and China Mobile signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint AI*5G lab in Hangzhou. The lab aims to allow AI and machine learning to optimize future networks and establish new Edge Cloud and 5G services.
In particular, officials said they hope to ensure that stressed networks automatically respond to accommodate demand and ensure quality and reliability are maintained.
“The work we are doing with China Mobile is a prime example of how we can help our customers unlock the potential within their 5G networks using open interfaces and toolkits,” Nokia Mobile Networks President Marc Rouanne said in a statement.
The companies plan to develop an open RAN and 5G ecosystem — including working with third parties — and conduct field trials and demonstrations.
Under the partnership, China Mobile will oversee scenario selection, requirements confirmation, open API standardization and solution definition, while Nokia will use its 5G Future X architecture to develop a demonstration system for verifying emerging technology use cases.
On Tuesday, the companies also announced a nearly $1.2 billion frame agreement that will see Nokia continue to provide network infrastructure and support to the carrier through 2018.
Nokia previously disclosed a MoU with Chinese tech giant Tencent to collaborate on 5G research, including the establishment of “an end-to-end 5G test environment in Shenzhen.”