Nokia has penned a deal with Tencent which will see the pair work together on the research and development of 5G apps, as the arrival of the next generation mobile networks continues to slowly edge closer.

Under the memorandum of understanding, the duo will setup an end-to-end 5G test environment in Shenzhen, China. Here, they will leverage the more than 1bn monthly active users on WeChat and QQ combined to test and roll out 5G services.

“We are pleased to collaborate with Nokia to leverage the technologies, products and expertise of both our companies to fufill the growing demands of a digital economy driven by 5G,” said Zeng Yu, VP at Tencent. “Tencent and Nokia are fully committed to delivering richer, more diverse, multi-level services and applications for enterprises, and individual customers. Furthermore, we will support each other in creating more financial and social benefits in our respective fields, to pursue success in the new era of digital economy.”

Research will be conducted into 5G using technologies such as edge computing, which can benefit areas including transportation, finance, energy, intelligent manufacturing, and entertainment.

In addition, Nokia and Tencent will look to utilise the artificial intelligence and automation management capabilities that 5G will enable in order to promote international standards and an open-source ecosystem.

“This collaboration with Tencent is an important step in showing webscale companies around the globe how they can leverage the end-to-end capabilities of Nokias 5G Future X portfolio,” said Marc Rouanne, president of mobile networks at Nokia. “Working with them we can deliver a network that will allow them to extend their service offer to deliver myriad applications and services with the high-reliability and availability to support ever-growing and changing customer demands.”