América Móvil, KT Corp., Rogers, Telstra, Verizon and Vodafone Align to Create 5G Future Forum

Global 5G leaders have come together to create a first-of-its-kind forum to accelerate the delivery of 5G and mobile-edge computing-enabled solutions around the world.

The 5G Future Forum will collaborate to develop interoperable 5G specifications across key geographic regions, including the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe. The Forum’s founding members are América Móvil, KT, Rogers, Telstra, Verizon and Vodafone.

5G and mobile-edge computing deliver lowest latency networks to mobile and connected devices while improving data throughput, reliability, power efficiency and security.

This gives organizations worldwide the ability to deliver a wide range of transformative business and consumer use cases, like machine learning at the edge, autonomous industrial equipment, smart cars and cities, Internet of Things (IoT), augmented and virtual reality, and more.

The 5G Future Forum will focus on the creation of uniform interoperability specifications to improve speed to market for developers and multinational enterprises working on 5G-enabled solutions. In addition, Forum participants will develop public and private marketplaces to enhance developer and customer access to 5G, and will share global best practices in technology deployment.

“5G is a key enabler of the next global industrial revolution, where technology will transform how we live and work. It’s critical that technology partners around the world unite to create the most seamless global experience for our customers,” said Hans Vestberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon. “We are proud to join with our fellow 5G leaders to unlock the full potential of applications and solutions that will transform with 5G’s fast speeds, high reliability, improved security and single-digit latency.”

Daniel Hajj, CEO of América Móvil, said: “5G is a powerful unprecedented technology. Through this forum, we will create a common platform to enable a global ecosystem of applications to exploit 5G at its full potential, contributing to the transformation of our societies and economies and reaffirming customer satisfaction.”

“This partnership will deliver the most competitive and continuous services based on 5G infrastructure to our customers, and provide developers with edge platform to deploy solutions around the world,” said Dr. Hongbeom Jeon, CTO of KT Corp.

“We are proud to work closely with other global leaders in driving the solutions and technology that will bring our customers the very best that 5G has to offer,” said Joe Natale, President and CEO, Rogers Communications. “These critical investments will form the foundation of 5G and unleash the future of Canada’s digital economy for consumers and businesses across our vast country.”

Telstra’s Group Executive for Networks and IT, Nikos Katinakis, welcomed the initiative, which recognizes Telstra’s 5G leadership on the global stage. “Telecommunications companies are in the driver’s seat when it comes to creating opportunities for their customers to take advantage of the world of possibilities enabled by 5G. We are proud to stand alongside these global 5G leaders, combining our experience and capabilities, as well as 5G leadership, to develop initiatives to bring mobile-edge computing to life.”

“This forum of global leaders in 5G marks an important step in ensuring edge computing works seamlessly for our customers,” said Vinod Kumar, CEO of Vodafone Business. “These new specifications will allow us to offer services that work consistently across the globe and support devices moving between countries. 5G opens up a wealth of opportunities for new solutions and business models and we’re excited to play a role in bringing them to life.”