In early 2017, the Italian government announced its intention to spearhead the implementation of the EU's 5G Action Plan as a strategy to encourage major Italian operators to develop 5G networks and promote the commercialization of 5G in Italy, for which five pilot cities were selected. These trials represent important milestones in the 5G Action Plan. Wind Tre and Open Fiber will partner with ZTE to conduct pre-commercial 5G trials in the Italian provinces of L'Aquila and Prato.
ZTE plans to offer the most advanced end-to-end 5G network solution for pre-commercial field testing and partner with Wind Tre, Open Fiber, local universities and companies to comprehensively test and verify 5G technical performance, network architecture, 4G and 5G network integration and future 5G applications, including virtual and augmented reality, smart cities, public safety, 5G healthcare and Industry 4.0.
Bai Yanmin, General Manager of TDD and 5G Products at ZTE, stated: “It is an honor to partner with Wind Tre and Open Fiber to develop Europe’s first pre-commercial 5G network. Meanwhile, we have plans to build a ZTE 5G Innovation and Research Center in L’Aquila. As one of the world’s leading providers of telecommunications solutions, ZTE is committed to becoming a global 5G pioneer, with 5G as its core strategy. We believe this cooperation will help Italy develop a world-class pre-commercial 5G network, promote the commercialization of 5G in other countries and regions, and accelerate the development of a 5G industrial chain.”.
To date, ZTE has established strategic partnerships with China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, SoftBank, Telefónica, Telenet (Belgium) and KT (South Korea) and has also entered into technical and industrial collaborations with many other operators.

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