China-based telecom equipment vendors Huawei Technologies and ZTE, in an attempt to lead in international development of 5G mobile communication technology and application, will invest US$600 million and EUR300 million (US$336 million) respectively in 5G R&D, according to the companies.

Huawei has signed for cooperation with Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom (German Telecom) for R&D of 5G technology and application. ZTE has inked a cooperation agreement with Japan-based SoftBank to deploy in-house-developed pre-5G technology in the Japan market, with commercial trial scheduled for early 2016 and pre-5G device prototypes to be developed in 2016-2018.

In addition, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has formed a task force to address international development of 5G standards.

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is expected to release technological definitions of 5G standards beginning 2016 and finish specification of these standards in 2020.