Huawei rotating chairman touts 5G opportunities
China’s tech giant delivers 10 wireless trends at Global MBB Forum in Dubai
In five years of commercial deployment, 5G has provided a considerable upgrade in the mobile experience for consumers, said a senior executive from China’s Huawei Technologies. The technology has already started to empower different industries around the globe..
Ken Hu, rotating chairman of Huawei, said at the company’s annual Global Mobile Broadband Forum held in Dubai on Oct 13 that the current state of 5G development and new opportunities are moving forward.
“Progress was much faster than we expected, especially in terms of subscriber base, network coverage, and the sheer number of 5G terminals on the market,” he said.
He outlined three areas of opportunity that will drive the next stage of 5G’s growth, including XR services, the B2B market, and low-carbon development.
Global 5G development
There are currently 176 commercial 5G networks around the globe, serving more than 500 million subscribers.
In the consumer space, average 5G download speeds are roughly 10 times greater than 4G, which has fueled broader adoption of applications like VR. In the enterprise space, there are already 10,000 projects exploring B2B applications of 5G around the world. 5G applications in industries like manufacturing, mining, and ports have already passed trial and are being replicated at scale.
While progress has been steady, he noted that there are still some areas for improvement. “Right now more than half of these 10,000 5GtoB projects are in China. We have a huge number of use cases already, but we need to build more sustainable business cases.”
Broader changes that will have a long-term impact on the ICT industry include accelerated digital transformation caused by the pandemic, he said. Other impacts include cloud platforms and artificial intelligence as must-haves for all organizations as well as how the world is taking climate change more seriously.
“These trends provide many opportunities for our industry,” he said. “But they also create some challenges. There are a few things we can do to get ready.”
First, the industry needs to get networks, devices, and content ready for explosive growth in Extended Reality. To support a cloud-based XR experience, networks must provide download speeds faster than 4.6 gigabytes per second with a latency no greater than 10 milliseconds.
“Last year we released our goals for 5.5G. And we believe they will help to address this challenge.”
On the device side, lowering barriers to headset adoption is critical to reaching a tipping point in virtual reality, one of the key technologies in the Extended Reality repertoire of AR, VR, and MR.
“To reach this tipping point, we must improve both headsets and content. For headsets, people want devices that are smaller, lighter, and more affordable.”
To enrich the content ecosystem, he called on the industry to provide cloud platforms and tools that simplify content development, which is notoriously difficult and expensive.
Second, telecom operators must enhance their networks and develop new capabilities to prepare for 5GtoB.
A strong network is key to 5G applications for industrial use, so operators must keep making improvements in network capabilities such as uplink, positioning, and sensing. As industrial scenarios are much more complex than consumer scenarios, O&M can be a real challenge.
Huawei is developing autonomous networks that bring intelligence to all aspects of 5G networks, from planning and construction to maintenance and optimization.
Digital transformation also requires different roles. In addition to providing connectivity, operators can also serve as cloud service providers, systems integrators, and more, while also developing the requisite capabilities.
To drive broader adoption of 5G in industries, developing industry-specific telecoms standards is also important.
In China, operators, together with their industry partners, have begun working on standards for applying 5G in industries like coal mining, steel, and electric power. This has helped to fuel greater adoption within these sectors.
“Beyond technology,” concluded Hu, “these are some of the intangible strengths that won’t provide immediate profit, but will be key to long-term competitiveness in the 5GtoB market.”
Third, the industry needs to get ready to go green.
According to the World Economic Forum, by 2030, digital technology can help to reduce global carbon emissions by at least 15 percent.
“On the one hand, we have a great opportunity to help all industries cut emissions and improve power efficiency with digital technology. On the other, we have to recognize that our industry has a growing carbon footprint, and we have to take steps to improve that,” Hu said.
“Right now Huawei is using new materials and algorithms to lower the power consumption of our products, and we’re remodeling sites, and optimizing power management in our data centers for greater efficiency.”
“We have seen so many changes in the past two years, with the pandemic, technology, business and the economy,” he added.
“Moving forward, as the world begins to recover, we need to recognize the opportunities in front of us and get ready for them. Get our technology ready, get our businesses ready, and get our capabilities ready.”
The Global Mobile Broadband Forum is hosted by Huawei, together with its industry partners GSMA and the SAMENA Telecommunications Council.
The forum gathered mobile network operators, vertical industry leaders, and ecosystem partners from around the world to discuss how to maximize the potential of 5G and push the mobile industry forward.
To reach this tipping point, we must improve both headsets and content. For headsets, people want devices that are smaller, lighter, and more affordable.”
Ken Hu, rotating chairman of Huawei