Russian telecom operator MTS Group will work with Nokia and Ericsson on developing a 5G test network in time for the 2018 World Cup football (soccer) tournament in Russia.

MTS announced today that it was working with Nokia on 5G. Late last year the Russian operator said it was working with Ericsson on 5G.

Specifically, MTS said it was working with Nokia to develop test projects that leverage LTE-Advanced Pro technology as well as 5G. One of those tests will include putting a 5G test network in a football stadium that will showcase video and other services during a major sporting event. When MTS announced last year it was working with Ericsson on 5G, it said it would demonstrate 5G during the 2018 World Cup and would have a 5G test system in 2016.

MTS said it believes the Internet of Things (IoT) will be a main driver of 5G because it will result in 10 to 100 times more connected devices than people, prompting the need for new services and applications.

Nokia has repeatedly said it believes the 5G network architecture will incorporate software-defined networking (SDN) functions. By using SDN, the company will be able to do network slicing, in which multiple independent, virtual sub-networks are created within the same infrastructure while catering to different latency and reliability requirements.

Nokia is involved in several 5G-related industry projects in Europe, including the 5G Public Private Partnership Project, 5G NORMA (5G Novel Radio Multiservice adaptive network Architecture), and it is collaborating with many universities on 5G around the globe.

Many wireless operators around the world are using big sporting events as a way to showcase 5G.

For example, Sprint earlier this month said it will use the 2016 Copa America Centenario soccer competition in June to showcase its 5G technology trials. The carrier, like MTS will also use gear from Ericsson and Nokia for its trials. Sprint will focus its trial on the delivery of 4K streaming video of soccer matches.

In addition, Korean mobile operator KT is aiming to launch 5G in time for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games being hosted in PyeongChang. And Japan's NTT DoCoMo is gearing up to showcase 5G at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.