Huawei said that RedCap connections are expected to exceed 100 million within the next three years
DUBAI- UNITED ARAB EMIRATES—Reduced Capability (RedCap) technology has already entered large-scale commercial use at a global level as over 10 carriers from seven countries have piloted the technology, Chinese vendor Huawei said during its Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF) 2023, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates this week.
Huawei said that RedCap connections are expected to exceed 100 million within the next three years, consolidating a new foundation for digital connections that drives the development of new 5G applications.
RedCap, sometimes referred to as NR Light, is a reduced set of 5G capabilities intended for devices like wearables and low-cost hotspots that have low battery consumption, lower costs and lower bandwidth requirements. Introduced with 3GPP Release 17, 5G RedCap is designed for devices currently served by LTE CAT-4 but provides equivalent or better in performance. This technology helps reduce the complexity, cost and size of 5G devices.
Huawei noted that RedCap can ensure an “optimal balance” between costs and performance for various industries such as manufacturing, electric power, home broadband, vehicle to everything (V2X), and smart wearables, among others, highlighting the fact that the cost of RedCap modules is 80% lower than that of 5G eMBB modules. RedCap also supports key 5G capabilities such as URLLC, network slicing, edge computing and 5G LAN to meet diversified network requirements of industry applications, the vendor said.
A series of RedCap commercial achievements were released at the 5G Industry Summit during the event. Huawei, working with China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, has implemented the end-to-end commercial deployment of RedCap in more than 10 cities including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shenzhen, Foshan, Ningde, Jinan and Suzhou, spanning industries like manufacturing, electric power and V2X.
The Chinese vendor also announced that global carriers, such as e& UAE, STC Saudi Arabia, Zain KSA, STC Kuwait, Zain Kuwait, STC Bahrain and AIS Thailand have also completed the technical verification or commercial pilot for RedCap.
During the MBBF event, Huawei and its industry partners exhibited more than 10 products encompassing RedCap modules, DTUs and CPEs.
According to Huawei, more than 50 industry devices are expected to be launched by the end of 2023, accelerating the deployment of RedCap applications and scaling up of its connections.
“Looking ahead, Huawei will work alongside global carriers, industry customers, and device and module vendors to promote large-scale RedCap network deployment and enrich applications, realizing a prosperous ecosystem that will inject new impetus into the development of the 5G industry and vitalize the mobile economy,” the vendor said.
