Credit: SK Telecom
Verizon and SK Telecom on Monday announced a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will see the operators collaborate on 5G field studies and standardization efforts.
Under the new agreement, Verizon and Sk Telecom will work to “turn co-developed 5G technical specifications into global standards” and carry out joint studies to identify new 5G use cases and applications.
Both companies have also agreed to strengthen their cooperation in the Open Compute Project (OCP) and the Mobile Central Office Rearchitected as a Datacenter(M-CORD) project.
“Verizon continues to collaborate with SK Telecom to develop 5G technologies,” Verizon Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Technology Architect Roger Gurnani said. “The signing of this MOU reflects our combined effort to advance the 5G ecosystem and drive technical development towards global commercialization of 5G technologies.”
The move comes as Verizon continues its push to lead the way on 5G.
Though the carrier has been criticized by the competition – including T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere and CFO Braxton Carter on several different occasions – for overhyping its 5G progress, the carrier has said it is aiming to roll out a fixed wireless 5G pilot next year.
Earlier this summer, Verizon announced the completion of its own 5G radio specification for next generation networks. The document, which is available online, lays out guidelines to test and validate 5G technical components, allowing industry players including chipset vendors, network vendors and wireless operators to develop interoperable solutions, Verizon said.
Verizon said the specification came courtesy of a collaboration with its 5G Technology Forum partners.
In addition to its new partnership with SK Telecom, Verizon has also said its collaborating with fellow Korean telecommunications operator KT Corporation on a “harmonized” 5G specification.
KT has previously set itself a goal of launching 5G services by 2018 for the Winter Olympic Games that will take place in Pyeongchang.
