Future Network Generations for an Intelligent World highlights Huawei at #MWC23
Global ICT leader Huawei called on industry cooperation to accelerate 5G prosperity at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023. During a keynote session, Li Peng, President of Huawei’s Carrier BG, explained that 5G had developed rapidly since it entered commercial use three years ago. By the end of 2022, he revealed that over 1 billion 5G users had watched high-definition streams of major international sports events, and more than 10 million households had access to 5G broadband.
“It has taken 5G only three years to achieve the progress 4G made in five years. From this perspective, 5G has already achieved success,” Peng said. As 5G network capabilities improve, users can watch videos in higher definition and from more viewpoints, creating a new standard for next-generation experiences, he stated. Peng also stated that 70% of users are willing to pay for better 5G experiences. Carriers can adopt the network-as-a-service (NaaS) model to foster a thriving 5G application and content ecosystem.
At MWC, Huawei cautioned that 5G coverage is still unbalanced among different regions and countries. Some consumers expect a better 5G experience, while industry digitalization requires more from 5G. “To achieve greater 5G success, the industry needs to reimagine 5G business, reinforce 5G coverage, and reinvent 5G technologies,” noted Peng.
Globally, 5G deployment is accelerating at a rapid speed. According to the latest statistics by December 2022 from GSMA and GSA, there had been 20+ commercial 5G networks worldwide, 900+ million 5G users, and 1,700+ released 5G terminal models.
In addition, 5G services are becoming mature. 5G brings upgraded user experience and helps global carriers improve network experience by 5 to 10 times compared with 4G. The proportion of HD videos (≥ 720p) has increased by over 30%. According to the latest GSA statistics, 94 carriers worldwide have released 5G FWA services. 5GtoB has become a new engine that stimulates the growth of the mobile industry. By December 2022, more than 10,000 5G private networks had been built worldwide, enabling toB private networks to become the fastest-growing business for carriers.
According to Huawei, networks must evolve from ubiquitous Gbps to ubiquitous 10Gbps, connectivity, and sensing the need to be integrated. The ICT industry must shift its focus from energy consumption to energy efficiency.
At the event, Huawei showcased leading technologies, new business opportunities, and industry progress in the 5.5G era. The company aims to work with carriers and industry partners worldwide to further the evolution of ICT infrastructure, lay the foundation for the 5.5G era, and build on the success of 5G for even greater prosperity. Huawei highlighted that technological innovation in the 5.5G era would bring operators a 10-fold increase in network performance over 5G in terms of speeds, connections, accuracy and reliability, efficiency, and intelligence. According to the technology pioneer, 5.5G can help operators open up new business frontiers and drive a 100-fold increase in new business opportunities.
Looking ahead to the future, leading carriers are working closely with 3GPP to advance the 5G standard and leap to 5.5G. The evolution from 5G to 5.5G will be vital to meeting these growing requirements. Cloud-based and multi-cloud enterprise applications are also becoming a new trend. Cloud applications will need real-time, reliable, and easily accessible connectivity, bringing new opportunities to transmission networks, whether between edge cloud nodes, edge cloud nodes, central clouds, or between enterprises and the cloud.
Huawei and Zain KSA collaborate to build a “5.5G City” network.
In line with promoting technological innovation for 5.5G evolution and expanding scalable offerings to customers, Zain KSA and Huawei partnered during the event to strengthen the digital infrastructure and build a global 5.5G evolution pioneer network, providing a solid engine for achieving national digitalization goals outlined in Saudi Vision 2030. The partners will collaborate to enhance technological innovation, improve user experience, and develop new use cases. The collaboration will provide a seamless gigabit experience in indoor and outdoor scenarios through the large-scale deployment of MetaAAU and 5G carrier aggregation, as well as LampSite digital indoor solutions.
Both parties will also work together to develop new use cases for the Internet of Things (IoT) and private network solutions. Finally, the partnership will explore innovative cooperation in ultra-compact sites and green energy solutions.
