Telefonica's R&D arm, Telefonica I+D has signed a multilateral deal with Ericsson and other public institutions in Spain to support the development of 5G technologies, products, and services in the framework of the Advanced 5G Network Infrastructure for Future Internet Public-Private Partnership (5G PPP) program.
This agreement focuses particularly on the 5G PPP and European Technology Platform for Communications Networks and Services (ETP Networld 2020) programs, promoted by the European Commission within the Horizon 2020 program. In addition, the agreement includes the creation of the first 5G laboratory of excellence, 5TONIC, launched by Telefónica last month through its innovation unit Telefónica I+D and IMDEA Networks.
Telefonica's partner on the project, Ericsson is also a member of the METIS Consortium. METIS is a project under the EU that aims to lay the foundations for 5G technologies and 5G Exchange (5GEx), a newly launched project which is jointly financed by the European Commission with a view of creating a unified European market for 5G infrastructure services that integrates a wide range of operators and technologies.
