Verizon joins 5G Future Forum with 5 other carriers

As more and more countries start to shift to 5G networks, a group of wireless carriers have teamed up to develop interoperable specifications as a standard for 5G around the world. The 5G Future Forum was founded by América Móvil, KT, Rogers, Telstra, Verizon, and Vodafone. 

The main focus of the group is to create uniform specifications for 5G so that developers will be able to create mobile-edge computing applications with the network in mind. They also plan to share the latest technology deployment practices that will help public and private markets. 

Although the group is made up of a small percentage of the mobile operators throughout the world, they are hoping to attract others in order to create global 5G interoperability specs that will make an impact around the world. But despite their small number, they represent some of the major geographies around the world. An exception to this is China, which is being isolated because of the ongoing trade war against Huawei. Not to mention, there is a misconception that both the US and China are in a race for 5G. 

Right now, it remains unclear how the forum will be creating the specs and how it will differ from the 5G standards implemented by the 3GPP. The group hopes that by creating these specs, they will be able to better “offer services that work consistently across the globe and support devices moving between countries.”