Huawei predicts 10Gbps 5G mobile speeds by 2020

Firm has already reached 50Gbps in prototype testing

Mobile broadband speeds could reach as high as 10Gbps by 2020 thanks to future 5G technologies, according to Chinese firm Huawei.

Speaking at the Huawei Mobile Broadband Forum in London on Tuesday, the firm's executive vice president Eric Xu said the firm is heavily investing in 5G technology with a planned investment of $600m to aid operators in bringing high-speed mobile connectivity to market faster.

Xu said: "We started our investment in 5G early, in 2009, and we have demonstrated our 5G prototype capable of 50Gbps speeds.

"We want to develop a system that will not break, that will support up to one billion connections and offer users speeds of up to 10Gbps. Of course, there are a lot of issues to work out before we get there."

Xu added that once 5G becomes commercially available, "possibilities will go beyond imagination."

"We are committed to helping the operators build more efficient and integrated systems, that can link people to people, people to things, and things to things," Xu said.

While such speeds may be a little way off there are already plans afoot in the UK to ensure the nation embraces 5G as early as possible, with research centres in the country already winning sizeable grants to work on the technology.

Ofcom is already working on future spectrum clearance plans and the government has announced that 5G is central to the UK's digital future. For now, though, 4G will have to make do, and with EE announcing that speeds of 300Mbps are now available in East London, speeds are definitely moving in the right direction.