The UK has only just seen the launch of 4G (fourth generation) mobile communication technology, but academics at Surrey University are already looking at its successor.
They have gained £35m from mobile operators, infrastructure suppliers and the United Kingdom analysis Partnership funding Fund to fund research into 5G.
The money would be used to create a 5G Innovation Centre, said the university.
Prof Rahim Tafozolli said work had already begun.
“The boundaries between mobile communication and the internet are blurring, so the fifth generation is internet on the move,” he told the BBC.
Prof Tafozolli, professor of mobile wireless communications and the director of Surrey school’s Centre for Communications systems research, stated: “4G for us is antique hat. We started working on 4G 10 years in the past.
“Being a university we have to be one step ahead of industry.”
Statistics showed mobile data traffic is soaring, he added.
“It looks as if yearly the site visitors is doubling. unfortunately capability is not doubling once a year. We need to get a hold of era, throughout the restricted radio spectrum that we’ve got, to accommodate this large surge.”
5G would also need to be more economical than its predecessor, he said.
“The cost of electricity of running the networks is very high,” Prof Tafozolli said.
“We are facing systems which are too expensive. We need something extremely energy efficient and cost efficient.”
5G would be in place by the year 2020, he added.
“What we’ve is good for the next 10 years. We need to be progressive, we can’t be complacent, the world is very dynamic.”