RIO DE JANEIRO - The Brazilian government has signed an agreement with China, the EU, the US, Japan and South Korea to bring 5G cellphone technology to the country, official sources announced Thursday.

In a statement, the Ministry of Science and Technology said the agreement had been signed by Project 5G Brazil, made up of 18 government entities, companies and research centers, with the participation of the Ministry.

"With this, Brazil enters into the select team which assumes the leadership of developing fifth-generation mobile technology," said the Ministry's Secretary for Information Policy, Maximiliano Martinhao.

"Brazil has been claiming an ever more important place in international debates about the development of information and communications technology. This shows that we have taken the correct decisions in terms of investing in research and development projects in this field," stated Martinhao.

According to the research, 5G networks are expected to theoretically allow users to download hundreds of hours of video within minutes.