ZTE has announced the signing of a strategic partnership agreement focusing on 5G and IoT with Telenet.

The collaboration will explore various options for IoT services and high capacity solutions using Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and LTE broadcast solutions, as well as various option on the road to 5G.

“We are happy to be engaged for a couple of months with ZTE,” said Telenet Chief Technology Officer Micha Berger. “We are convinced this partnership will allow us to offer a top quality mobile network for existing and future needs all over Belgium.”

Telenet is the largest cable broadband service provider in Belgium, providing a range of digital television, fixed and mobile services to residential and business customers across Belgium and Luxembourg. It’s a useful little win for ZTE, which often gets forgotten about as the fourth battler, slightly lagging behind Ericsson and Nokia in the Huawei chase.

The new deal builds on the upgrades ZTE did on Telenet’s mobile national mobile network last year, where it helped to replace 2G base stations and optimise 3G and 4G coverage.

ZTE has also dropped in another press release stating it will showcase its remote control service for 5G VR underwater vehicles at the 5G World Summit. It’s another industry specific usecase for VR, but one which could be quite useful for the offshore oil industry which has been hit hard in recent years.