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Nokia is one of the companies involved in the 5G trial in Japan. AP/Press Association Images
Zoom Zoom

Japanese carrier kicks off 5G tests with Nokia and Samsung in tow

Although it will be 2020 before it’s released commercially.

WITH 4G ONLY around for a few months, tests on the next generation mobile communications are beginning to pick up with Japan being the latest country to do so.

Japanese carrier DOCOMO is currently trialing 5G connections with six mobile manufacturers including Samsung, Nokia and Ericsson.

The carrier expects to collaborate with other companies in its efforts to test a wide range of 5G mobile technologies before its released commercially.

DOCOMO will begin indoor trials at its R&D centre in Yokosuka this year before with outdoor field trials planned for next year.

Findings from the trial will be shared with research institutes and at international conferences to help contribute to 5G standardisation, which is expected to begin in 2016. It will also use its findings to help research aimed at developing future technologies.

Samsung has a bit of experience in the field, having tested 1Gbps 5G hardware in South Korea last year.

At that time, the company said it had witnessed data transmission of more than one gigabit per second over a distance of two kilometres. Such speeds would allow users to download an entire movie in one second.

5G is a next-generation cellular system which is said to be up to several hundred times faster than existing 4G networks. It’s expected that 5G will see a commercial release in 2020.

Read: Samsung replaces its head of mobile design amid Galaxy S5 criticism >

Read: Nintendo plans to develop new consoles for emerging markets >

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