Singapore’s largest mobile operator Singtel and Sweden-based equipment vendor Ericsson plan to set up a centre of excellence to push 5G development and deployment in the city state.

Jointly funded by the two companies with an initial investment of SGD2 million ($1.4 million) over the next three years, the centre aims to spearhead the development of Singapore’s 5G mobile network infrastructure to support the country’s Smart Nation initiatives, Singtel said in a statement.

The facility will also be open to Singtel’s Australian subsidiary Optus as well as its regional associates across Asia and Africa.

Singtel said an important part of the centre’s strategic goal is to help industries and enterprises understand the value of 5G. The collaboration with Ericsson will focus on training staff, demonstrations, live field trials and collaborations with tertiary institutions.

Mark Chong, Singtel’s group CTO, said: “We’re pleased to partner with Ericsson to enhance our 5G core competencies and create a robust 5G ecosystem that will allow Singtel and our enterprise customers to benefit from the anticipated growth opportunities 5G will bring. We invite customers in various verticals to start shaping their new digital business models with us.”

Ericsson will conduct workshops later this year, which will be followed by field testing and hands-on experience to train more than 100 Singtel engineers in designing and operating a 5G network.

5G demos will be set up in Singtel’s Comcentre headquarters to showcase future applications.

Ericsson is partnering with a number of operators in Asia on 5G development, announcing 5G testbeds with SmarTone in Hong Kong in January and SK Telecom in South Korea in February 2016.