Telecom operators Bharti Airtel, China Mobile, SoftBank, KT and Vodafone are gearing up to make investments in 5G networks.
These 5 global telecom operators have committed to make investment in 5G mobile technology at GTI 2.0, which was launched during the GTI summit 2016 held at the Mobile World Congress (MWC 2016) in Barcelona.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises, Shang Bing, chairman of China Mobile, Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, Chang-Gyu Hwang, chairman and CEO of KT and Vittorio Colao, CEO of Vodafone Group are driving the new 5-year strategic plan of GTI 2.0.
GTI 2.0 does not give up on its original vision of promoting TD-LTE networks. There are 76 TD-LTE commercial networks in 43 countries. 91 TD-LTE networks are in progress. Telecoms deployed 1.4 million TD-LTE base stations serving 470 million subscribers globally.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, said: “Bharti Airtel is delighted to be a part of GTI 2.0. We have led the roll-out of TD-LTE in India and are confident that it will emerge as the preferred standard for evolving mobile technologies.”
GTI 2.0 aims to promote the development of TD-LTE, encourage convergence with FDD, and foster a 5G ecosystem.
GTI 2.0 will promote a unified 5G standard and mature end-to-end ecosystem, as well as explore cross-industry markets and opportunities.
Shang Bing, chairman of China Mobile said: “We will work with GTI partners to further promote TD-LTE evolution, global deployment and propel 5G development and joint innovation to embrace the new era of Everything Connected.”
Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao said it is important for the industry to continue developing 4G and to work together to develop the standards for 5G technology ahead of its expected commercial introduction from 2020 onwards.
Vina Krishnan
editor@telecomlead.com
