Minister Berner to meet ITU Secretary-General

Ministry of Transport and Communications
Publication date 5.6.2017 16.28
Press release

Minister of Transport and Communications Anne Berner will meet with Houlin Zhao, the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Helsinki on 6 June.

The main topic of the meeting between Minister Berner and Secretary-General Zhao will be the development of 5G networks.

"The next World Radiocommunication Conference will be held in 2019. It is exceptionally important that a sufficient amount of frequencies are allocated during the conference for 5G networks. Finland wants to be a frontrunner in the development of 5G, and for this reason, we feel it is very important that the appropriate frequencies are available in the EU and worldwide," Minister Berner states.

"Test permits have already been issued and frequencies allocated for the testing and development of 5G in Finland. 5G requires both high and low frequencies. The 700 megahertz band, which has been identified as essential to 5G in Europe, is already in use in Finland," Minister Berner notes.

In addition to meeting Minister Berner, during his stay in Helsinki Secretary-General Zhao will learn about VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd.'s 5G research projects.

The ITU is an agency of the UN, which coordinates international telecommunication networks and services. The ITU's primary tasks are standardisation, the harmonisation of radio frequency use, and ensuring that networks and technologies interconnect.