Huawei rotaing CEO Ken Hu said mobile operators have deployed about 260 5G networks globally, covering nearly half of the world’s population
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES—Chinese vendor Huawei is heavily focusing on 5G-Advanced, or “5.5G” technologies, to help the operators maximize the value of their current investments in 5G networks, Huawei’s rotating chairman Ken Hu, said during a virtual keynote session at the Huawei’s 14th Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF), being held this week in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
“Technology is changing so fast, and new demands are evolving every day. So our networks need to keep evolving too. Our industry as a whole needs to get ready for the future and maximize the value of investments in 5G and that’s why we’re working so hard on 5G-Advanced,” Hu said.
According to Hu, 5G technology has become a new growth engine for mobile operators in the consumer market, with 5G now representing for the majority of network traffic. In particular, video-based applications are changing consumption habits, driving a three- to five-fold increase in network traffic and 10%-25% average increase in ARPU, Hu added.
During his presentation, Hu stressed that mobile operators have deployed about 260 5G networks globally, covering nearly half of the world’s population. The adoption of 5G has been much faster than 4G, with some 1.5 billion connections worldwide in just over four years, the executive added.
“Over the past four years, we’ve identified key scenarios for industrial applications, like remote control, video backhaul, machine vision, and positioning, where we can maximize the value of 5G,” Hu added. “We have also identified industries like mining, ports, and manufacturing where we can scale up 5G capabilities.”
Meanwhile, in a separate keynote session, Li Peng, Huawei’s corporate senior vice president and president of the vendor’s carrier business group, called on global carriers and industry to start working for the provision of future services, which will be provided by 5G-Advanced.
“We are already on the right path towards 5G business success, and 5G-Advanced is the natural next step in 5G’s evolution,” Li said.
According to Li, future mobile networks need to have six key features: 10 Gbps downlink, 1 Gbps uplink, deterministic networking, support for a hundred-billion IoT connections, integrated sensing and communication and native AI capabilities. He noted that operators and industry players not only need to continuously enhance their capabilities in three core usage scenarios – enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type communications (mMTC) and ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC), but also develop new capabilities, including Uplink Centric Broadband Communication (UCBC) and Real-Time Broadband Communication (RTBC).
Regarding the development of future 5G-Advanced networks, Li highlighted that the industry needs to work together to promote the development of device and application ecosystems, verify use case scenarios and accelerate the large-scale commercialization of FWA, Passive IoT and RedCap.
5G-Advanced will be specified by 3GPP Releases 18, 19 and 20, after which 3GPP’s work will focus on 6G, which will hit the market around 2030.
During Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2023, Huawei unveiled plans to launch a set of commercial ‘5.5G’ network equipment during next year.
Huawei also highlighted it has been working with multiple players across the industry on R&D and verification of key ‘5.5G’ technologies, adding that it has collaborating with more than 30 operators around the world on technological verification and application pilots for these technologies.