Nokia trials 5G network in Finland

Silver "5G" in 3D

Nokia is to start trialling its 5G network in the company's native Finland and plans to share its network-based APIs with partners and competitors.

Nokia's technical director Juha Maatta said the trial is likely to roll out in early 2015 because a formal decision on how to build the network is still under review.

The company will partner up with the University of Oulu and the city of Oulu along with the Finnish Technical Research Centre for the trials.

5G will see a huge increase in both speeds and capacity when it is rolled out commercially.

Data transfer speeds will be ten to 100 times faster than they are at the moment and more people will be able to use it with a capacity of 1,000 times what we're used to.

The standard will also be more efficient than 4G, saving 90 per cent more energy.

Nokia said any discoveries it makes along the way, or APIs it develops to make the technology work, will be shared with its partners and even competitors.

Maatta said: "It won't be just one product, but there would be an entire ecosystem around it. We also have to develop the user experience. In this way people will see that they will have limitless capacity at their disposal."

Nokia isn't the first company to throw its weight behind 5G technologies. Huawei has announced it is pumping 400 million into developing 5G technologies and even a UK network, while Samsung and Telefonica are also experimenting with the superfast data technology on UK soil.

David Cameron is also behind the UK developing its own data speeds. He announced a project between the University of Dresden, King's College University in London and the University of Surrey earlier in the year to investigate 5G's capabilities.

Clare Hopping
Freelance writer

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.