By Hypertext
Few pieces of technology have been discussed as much as 5G in recent years with the latest wireless standard finally taking hold across the world.
Many have already been enjoying the enhanced speed and other benefits of 5G, and that is thanks to companies like Huawei which touch every link in the 5G chain giving them a unique perspective when it comes to this topic. From hardware in data centres all the way down to end user devices, Huawei is there for every step of the 5G journey.
This was the focus of the opening of the latest Huawei’s Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF) which was held recently in Bangkok, Thailand.
Leading the charge was Huawei Rotating Chairman Ken Hu,, starting things off with a keynote on how 5G is leading the charge with its fast growth. Mention is made of 230 carriers around the world offering commercial 5G services, three million 5G base stations, 700 million subscribers to 5G services and more.
“5G is in the fast lane and we should all be proud of the progress we’ve made. But there’s more we can do to maximise its value. We need to work together to fully unleash the power of 5G networks and expand into services like cloud and system integration. Together, we can drive leapfrog development in 5G networks, applications, and the industry as a whole,” says Hu.
Despite these advancements, more can be done, according to the Rotating Chairman, not just to offer better services, but also for networks to seize opportunities. This includes the use of cloud and AI – facilitated by 5G – to create entirely new experiences for customers and businesses alike. With faster speed, larger bandwidth and low latency now is the time for these new approaches to be taken, but before looking too far into the future, more of the groundwork needs to be attended to.
“The industry needs to come together to define standards, prepare the spectrum, and build out the ecosystem,” Hu adds.
The allocation of spectrum is of particular importance to developing markets where this may not have been facilitated just yet. The MBBF involves not just Huawei, but also other industry partners like GSMA and GTI, all working towards the creation of this ecosystem as Hu mentions.
Hu was not the only Huawei executive speaking on the first day of MBBF, with a focus on 5G. President of the Global Sales Dept of Huawei Carrier BG, James Chen , also gave a keynote on the topic and how it can be used for commercial success for mobile carriers and other companies.
The president points to three key areas when it comes to growing this success through 5G: user experience, IoT and industrial digitisation.
Chen points out that a great user experience can generate more revenue than ever before as carriers move away from traffic-based business models. Speed, latency and uplink experience are all factors in 5G packages that carriers should focus on when pursuing this new market segment.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to create 100 billion connections as this is another booming market that Huawei is deeply involved in. IoT is also of particular focus as both consumer and industrial markets depend on them increasingly as every piece of hardware becomes smarter.
User experience and IoT are familiar concepts for those who follow tech, but industrial digitisation is a rarer concept. Chen sees this as a way for carriers to expand into the B2B market, another important subject in South Africa, especially as Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are the lifeblood of the local economy.
All three of these aspects should be considered as more networks are built out. Carriers and other telcos may be all too familiar with these intricacies, but other companies should be paying particular attention as 5G becomes the norm and systems require investment in these coming years.
“5G is changing the mobile landscape, but this is just the beginning. Huawei will continue to innovate in technologies to maximize the value of each band, hertz, and watt, help global customers build 5G networks with the best experience, optimal energy efficiency, and highest efficiency, and continuously create value for customers. Together, we can make 5G a commercial success,” Chen states.https://htxt.co.za
