KDDI and Softbank have joined the network sharing game, agreeing to jointly build out 5G in rural Japan.

The two telcos have formed a joint venture, 5G JAPAN Corp., that will design and build 5G basestations and then manage shared use of the infrastructure, the two companies announced Wednesday.

The new company has paid-in capital of 500 million yen ($4.7 million).

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KDDI has said it believes 5G would help resolve some of the problems in regional Japan, by enabling remote monitoring and operation and could contribute to the revitalization of regional industries.

The partners have conducted joint trials in Asahikawa in northern Hokkaido, Narita city near Tokyo, and Fukuyama in Hiroshima prefecture.

Chinese operators China Telecom and China Unicom say they have jointly saved $1.4 billion through their national network sharing partnership in just six months. (See The mysterious case of the vanishing Chinese customers.)

— Robert Clark, contributing editor, special to Light Reading