ROME - China's ZTE Corp will make Italy its European hub for the development of 5G wireless technology, the company confirmed on Thursday.

Fifth-generation or 5G is the next mobile wireless standard, and will make telecoms faster and more powerful. The company announced its plans in a meeting with Lombardy regional officials in Milan.

ZTE intends to open 13 new research & development centers in Italy, said its CEO for Western Europe, Hu Kun. "The 5G network will be ready by next year," said Hu who also serves as president of ZTE Italy, adding "The pre-5G phase is in full swing."

5G development at the Italy tech hub "will be the most important experimentation, at the European level, in the telecoms field," Hu told the Italian Institute for Asia and the Mediterranean (IsiameD), one of its digital technology partners in Italy, in an interview posted on the IsiameD website.

Founded in 1985, ZTE operates across 140 countries and employs over 30,000 researchers in 18 R&D centers, according to its corporate website.