Swisscom AG said Feb. 22 that it plans to commercially roll out a 5G mobile network in select areas toward the end of 2018.

It has tapped Ericsson AB to deploy 5G hardware and software on the Swiss operator's network.

Swisscom is also set to conduct a 5G mast trial in March in preparation for the launch.

Both companies will also jointly demonstrate network slicing over public networks at the Mobile World Congress 2018, the Swedish company said Feb. 21.

In December 2017, The 3rd Generation Partnership Project, an industry body that governs cellular standards, approved the first-ever 5G specification at a meeting in Lisbon.

The completion of the first 5G New Radio standard has set the stage for the global mobile industry to start developing large-scale trials and commercial deployments as early as in 2019.