By Supantha Mukherjee

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Telefonica Germany and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are working on a pilot to test quantum technologies in the telecom operator's mobile network, executives from the two companies said.

AWS and Telefonica will look to calculate the optimal placement of mobile towers, find ways to secure the network with quantum encryption, and use the insights to develop 6G networks.

Big tech firms are attempting to create machines that take advantage of quantum mechanics to deliver far faster speeds than conventional silicon-based computers.

Researchers are divided on when quantum computers will arrive, but they are expected to be more powerful and capable of cracking the codes that protect almost all modern communication.

"If you wait until quantum computing is there, it's too late. "You really have to start working now with the prototypes," Antia Lamas-Linares, principal applied scientist at AWS, told Reuters in an interview.

"We are creating the necessary conditions today to leverage quantum technologies and their possibilities in our network," said Mallik Rao, Chief Technology & Information Officer at O2 Telefonica, which is also known as Telefonica Germany.

Earlier this year, Telefonica Germany announced plans to move one million of its 5G customers to the AWS cloud.

"It's working well from a performance perspective," Rao told Reuters, adding: "We will move another million customers in next six months time ... we have a roadmap to move at least three to four million customers in the next 12 to 18 months".

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee, European Technology & Telecoms Correspondent, based in Stockholm; Editing by Alexander Smith)