BT’s not content with being the owner of the UK’s biggest 4G network, so it’s teamed up with Nokia to work on 5G research and development.

The companies will pool resources and examine potential use cases in a series of trials, due to take place at at BT’s Adastral Park R&D facility near Ipswich, Suffolk.

As has been the case with many 5G groundwork to date, the trials will focus on using radio frequencies in the Extremely High Frequency (EHF) or millimetre wave band, which comprises radio frequencies from 30 to 300GHz. Vodafone and Huawei recently announced that they’d been able to deliver data rates of over 20Gbps in a separate trial, which used the 70GHz band.

Howard Watson, CEO of BT Technology service and operations, sees the venture as key to extending BT’s lead over the rest of the market.

“Our EE mobile business already boasts the biggest 4G network in the UK, which is set to cover 95 per cent of the country by 2020,” said Watson.

“We will build on that foundation to develop the next generation of LTE-Advanced Pro and 5G services over the next few years.

“It’s still early days for 5G technology, but experience tells us that a collaborative approach is key to success. We’re delighted to be working with Nokia to drive a common approach to 5G, and to develop exciting use cases which bring together our combined experience in fixed and mobile technologies.”

As well as ultrafast speeds, BT and Nokia will explore how next-gen mobile tech could power a number of services, including self-driving cars, smart cities, remote health as well as Internet of Things (IoT) things.

Nokia is currently conducting trials of its latest ‘5G-ready’ equipment at Adastral Park, including a totally new 5G frame structure and advanced carrier aggregation - something which LTE-Advanced Pro, mentioned by Watson above, allows for.

Carrier aggregation basically means that phones and other devices with the latest radios can access faster speeds, something which you might have already experienced if you’re on EE and you have a phone with a Cat 6 LTE-Advanced antenna.

The maximum aggregated bandwidth possible with LTE-A tech is 100 MHz; Nokia’s advanced techniques allow for four lots of 100MHz to be aggregated.