AT&T is teaming with several operators and vendors to align efforts on 5G, with the goal to enable faster deployment of the technology once global 3GPP standards are officially released.

In a statement, the US number two operator said it hopes to work with a broad set of industry players “to find and resolve key issues early and bring 5G to market sooner”.

The efforts, it said, are in preparation for the release of the official 3GPP specifications, which “will form the basis of the global standards”. The industry group has set timelines for 5G milestones, with the expectation that commercial networks will launch in 2020 following standard ratification from 2018.

AT&T said it is holding preliminary discussions with China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Intel, KDDI, LG, Nokia, NTT Docomo, Qualcomm, Samsung, SK Telecom, Telstra and Vodafone.

Earlier this year, AT&T’s main rival Verizon launched the 5G Open Trial Specification Alliance, also in partnership with SK Telecom and NTT Docomo, as well as KT Corporation, on the development of 5G trial networks.

This week, Verizon and SK Telecom also strengthened their own partnership, signing a Memorandum of Understanding to merge their 5G technical specifications on a global basis.

With its own 5G trials, announced last year, AT&T said it is accelerating over the air interoperability based on standards developed under the 3GPP New Radio (NR) specifications. It said focussing on the NR standards helps to ensure the technology will work with any future 3GPP 5G NR updates.

“Interim and fragmented pre-standard specifications can distract from the ultimate goal,” said Tom Keathley, SVP, network architecture and design at AT&T. “Linking trials to the standards process is the fastest path to large scale global 5G deployment.”