China Mobile marching forward on 5G

China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers, said on Wednesday it will establish a 5G fund to promote the development and maturity of fifth-generation mobile communication technology.

The plan is part of the company's broader push to commercialize 5G in 2020. The new technology, at least 10 times faster than 4G, will allow for superfast downloading of movies, self-driving cars and streaming virtual reality games.

Shang Bing, chairman of China Mobile, said "We will establish a 5G innovation fund to promote the development of key technologies. Meanwhile, we will vigorously promote 5G scale trials and conduct application demonstrations this year."

The senior executive did not elaborate the on specific investment size of the fund. According to him, the company will start pre-commercial use of the superfast technology in 2019 before the commercial launch of 5G in 2020.

China Mobile is scheduled to release its 5G network construction plan on Thursday. It will focus on standalone network architecture.

The world is entering the final sprint toward the commercialization of 5G, after the global mobile industry completed the first phase of 5G standardization earlier this month.