T-Mobile US teamed with the Georgia Institute of Technology and Curiosity Lab to launch an incubator programme to help developers test and market 5G services.

The 5G Connected Future programme is an offshoot of a scheme dubbed the T-Mobile Accelerator. The latest initiative will focus on developing services for autonomous vehicles; robotics; industrial drones; mixed reality training and entertainment; remote medical care; personal health; and fitness wearables, among other things.

Work will be conducted from a 25,000 square-foot laboratory in Atlanta, co-managed by Georgia Institute of Technology’s Advanced Technology Development Centre (ATDC), which will recruit and evaluate start-ups and work with the operator to provide coaching, business connections and other support to participants.

John Avery, ATDC director, noted 5G developers “face a unique set of challenges such as regulatory issues at the state and local levels, network security and integration testing”. The lab aims to help “refine their ideas into scalable companies and bring these solutions to market more quickly”.

T-Mobile launched an investment fund for 5G start-ups in October 2020 and a 5G Open Innovation Lab in May 2020.