China has established the world’s largest 5G test field in the race to standardise the mobile communication technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said Friday.

Industry giants including Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp are participating in the test programmes at the outdoor test site in Beijing, Xinhua news agency reported.

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The tests, set between 2016 and 2018, will include three stages for key technology verification, technological solution verification and system verification respectively, said Zhang Feng, chief engineer of the MIIT.

The second stage of tests has begun after the first stage verified the feasibility of essential techniques.

China has started preparations early for the 5G network, establishing the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group in February 2013 to coordinate efforts by mobile service operators, manufacturers and research institutes.

Years of investment has put China in pole position to formulate the industry standard and reap the benefits of a network that provides much faster connectivity and lower energy consumption.

China aims to commercialise 5G mobile networks as early as 2020.

The following two statements were made at the Mobile World Congress (MWC 2017) in Barcelona, Spain.

Liu Aili, EVP of China Mobile said the telecom operator will strengthen cooperation with partners to facilitate a unified and high-quality 3GPP 5G specification, accelerate the maturity of 5G industry through testing and trials, and explore new services, applications and business models with vertical industry partners for a unified 5G ecosystem through China Mobile 5G Innovation Center.

Yang Chaobin, president of Huawei’s 5G Product Line said 5G will become the industry digital enabler, which must be able to adapt to more application scenarios, such as low latency, massive connections and more throughput to ensure stronger vitality and longer lifecycle.