Viettel Cambodia, or Metfone, has signed an agreement to pilot the technology with the state-owned Telecom Cambodia, and is working quickly to install 5G base transceivers to begin the trials this month, Nhong Dinthon, the company’s deputy general director, said.

At the signing ceremony on Tuesday, both parties also pledged to share their IT infrastructure, invest in areas such as e-government, e-health, e-education, e-agriculture, smart cities, and the Internet of Things.

Last year Metfone became the first operator in Cambodia to provide 4.5G LTE services. It also installed 100 4G broadcasting stations in Tonlé Sap, considered one of the country’s most backward areas.

Viettel’s agreement to pilot 5G services in Cambodia comes over a month after it made its first 5G call in Vietnam. It has a license from Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications to trial its 5G services until January 21, 2020.

5G is the latest generation of mobile Internet connectivity, and should offer much faster speeds and more reliable connections on smartphones and other devices compared to the existing 3G and 4G technologies.