NEW DELHI, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- India's telecommunication department would start first large-scale 5G trials in the country from next year, officials said Thursday.

The trials would be held in collaboration with South Korean tech giant Samsung.

The announcement was made during the second edition of the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2018 that kicked off in Indian capital city New Delhi on Thursday.

"5G will be the key to bring smart factories, smart cities and smart agriculture to a new, digitalised India," Youngky Kim, President and Head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics, said in his keynote address on the inaugural day of the three-day event.

The agenda of the congress, according to officials, primarily is 5G and the future of Indian telecom.

Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani expressed confidence in India's data-led growth and said he was confident that India will be a fully-4G ready country by 2020.

"By 2020, I believe that India will be a fully-4G country and ready for 5G ahead of others. Every phone in India will be a 4G-enabled phone and every customer will have access to 4G connectivity," he said. "India will be 5G-ready ahead of others."

The event saw heads of telecom industry sharing dais and addressing the event.