Huawei held their Global Mobile Broadband Forum 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand, last week. One of many interesting ideas they shared in the future outlook of the telecom industry is moving from 5G to 5.5G. Let’s take a closer look at what that means to wireless networks, competitors, smartphone makers, customers and investors.
This Huawei MBBF event gave us a glimpse into tomorrow and the role 5G wireless will play moving forward. It is vital for every investor and customer to understand the direction the industry is now heading in as it advances to 5.5G.
This event focused on many areas and showcased the progress of 5G and wireless technology both from the perspective of Huawei and of the entire industry. It showed emerging problems and solutions for networks in countries around the world over the next several years.
This move to 5.5G reminds me of when the wireless industry moved from 2G to 2.5G, years ago. That was done because the leap forward within one generation was so great, it couldn’t be ignored. Yet it was not enough to call it the next generation of service.
Huawei says the leap forward in 5G is that important as well. That’s why the term 5.5G is needed to better describe where we are today and the progress of the industry.
How the leap from 5G to 5.5G will impact wireless industry
This event discussed several important areas like how 5G is accelerating and its convergence for business success. And how as 5G accelerates it is impacting industry development to deliver the ultimate experience.
The keynote address was given by Ken Hu, Huawei Rotating Chairman about how more than 230 wireless carriers worldwide have already launched 5G services. That means more than three million 5G base stations, serving more than 700 million subscribers. He discussed how Huawei intends to leapfrog 5G development among networks, applications and the entire wireless industry.
Peng Song, President of ICT Strategy and Marketing summarized how Huawei is focused on building a green and sustainable 5G network. How their Gigaverse experience intends on impacting every part of the wireless industry.
David Wang, Executive Director of the Board and Chairman of ICT Infrastructure Managing Board, said the industry has made significant progress and is now ready to make the move to 5.5G. To reach this new level, he called on all industry players to prepare on all fronts so they can move faster and build a better and faster intelligent world together.
Yang Chaobin, President of ICT Products and Solutions and Huawei Wireless Solution releases the One 5G concept and a set of solutions designed to move toward the evolution of all bands to 5G.
The event also showcased Midea, which they say is the first fully connected 5G smart factory. This was launched by China Mobile and Huawei and features their laundry machine assembly capabilities.
This is an example of how the next level 5.5G can impact factories globally. That is an enormous growth opportunity for many different industries.
This event seemed to both showcase where Huawei is in the changing wireless industry, but also called on other leaders to join the move to 5.5G.
5.5G wireless will be 10 times faster than 5G
In conversations with several other leaders, I found they all agree the industry is heading in this same direction, but few are using 5.5G in their vocabulary, so far at least.
Huawei says 5.5G wireless will be 10 times faster than 5G, reaching 10 GBPS download speeds.
This event showcased and highlighted the rapid advancement of 5G and its impact on the world, meaning networks, smartphones, consumers, business customers, and companies and governments in every country around the globe.
Wireless is creating a massive transformation of the way we do everything. And wireless is at the center of this storm.
5G wireless growth wave
This is an enormous growth opportunity for the wireless industry over the next decade and beyond.
However, that does not mean every sector of the wireless industry and every competitor will show the same level of growth.
As always, the growth wave will play its role with individual sectors. The Growth Wave rises, then crests and then falls and is then replaced by the next Growth Wave.
If we pull the camera back and take a longer-term historical perspective, the rush to 5G is still in its very early days. The growth opportunity is always there, it is just moving. So, everyone has to stay alert to the changes in different sectors of this industry.
We need to understand where we are at any point in time on the 5G wireless growth curve as we continue to move forward into tomorrow.
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