Poland’s government is cooperating with three of the country’s mobile operators on 5G development in order to speed up the rollout of the technology.
The agreement was signed by Orange Poland, Polkomtel and T-Mobile Poland, together with the state-run operator Exatel and state development fund PFR. The partners plan to set up a new company to deploy infrastructure.
PFR’s CEO Pawel Borys said: “The goal of the joint venture is to ensure nationwide availability of 5G services in selected bands, technology security and low service prices thanks to synergies of common infrastructure.”
The country’s largest operator, Play Communications, is notably not yet party to the agreement. According to a statement reported by Reuters, the company cannot sign any such memorandum without corporate approval.
Last month, Poland announced new 5G security frameworks relating to the equipment used in networks. Since the move followed the country’s closer alignment with the USA on 5G security, it was widely seen as a play by the US to convince European governments to drop Huawei’s equipment from their networks.
Huawei has long denied the US allegations that its equipment poses any kind of security threat. In July, the vendor pledged to invest around PLN3 billion ($778.5 million) into Poland across the next five years.
