Huawei’s rotating chairwoman, Sabrina Meng, addressed the audience at MWC Shanghai and highlighted the significant value that 5G has generated since its commercial debut. In her address, Meng placed strong emphasis on the transformative power of 5G in consumer markets, industry, and the overall socio-economic landscape.
Sabrina Meng speaking at MWC Shanghai 2023
“5G has been in commercial use around the world for four years now. Across all industries and countless households around the world, it’s changing the way we work and live, creating tremendous economic, industrial, and social value.”
Looking ahead to the future of 5G, Meng expressed her enthusiasm for 5.5G, the next evolutionary phase of this groundbreaking technology. She described 5.5G as the “next step forward” that Huawei expects to stimulate the market for next-generation mobile services. Meng emphasized its pivotal role in driving the digital transformation of various industries and underscored the importance of developing more integrated capabilities.
“It will not only connect people better – it will also create incredible new business opportunities with more targeted support for industrial needs in domains like IoT, sensing, and advanced manufacturing,” she said.
5G, cloud, and AI have set off a chain reaction
Meng emphasized the significant impact of 5G, cloud computing, and AI on consumers, leading to a series of events that has created an environment where individuals can engage in both buying and selling activities.
In the telecommunications industry, consumer services continue to generate the majority of carrier revenue. With the increasing prevalence of 5G, its vastly superior experience is driving notable shifts in consumer behavior, including a sharp surge in high-definition video traffic.
Looking ahead, 5G will pave the way for new devices and applications that offer a more immersive experience, such as ‘5G New Calling’ and ‘Naked-eye 3D’ technology. Furthermore, 5G is ushering in a new era of super-connectivity between various devices and objects, bolstering the capabilities of IoT networks and leading to novel forms of productivity.
5G has become a new engine for industry development
The transformative potential of 5G extends to various industries, acting as a catalyst for increased productivity and generating substantial value in sectors such as oil and gas, manufacturing, and transportation. Meng emphasized the crucial role of integrating 5G into production systems for large-scale industrial applications. Strategic patience, in-depth understanding of industrial scenarios, and ongoing improvements to return on investment (ROI) have paved the way for 5G’s successful integration into industrial applications.
In Thailand, Huawei is actively supporting the country’s endeavor to become a leader in 5G technology within the ASEAN region. By the end of 2022, Huawei had assisted customers in deploying over 40,000 5G base stations in Thailand, providing high-quality 5G network services to more than 80% of the Thai population. The number of 5G users has surpassed 11 million, accounting for over 40% of the total 5G users in ASEAN countries. Moreover, the penetration rate of 5G terminals and 5G traffic exceeds 20%. As per the GSMA rating, Thailand ranks among the top ten cities globally in terms of 5G deployment and adoption.
5.5G era is approaching
Looking towards the future, Meng delved into the ongoing evolution of 5G technology and introduced the concept of 5.5G, referred to as ‘5G Advanced’ by Huawei. The company expects 5.5G to serve as a bridge to next-generation 6G technology, further stimulating the potential of 5G.
The arrival of 5.5G in the communications industry is rapidly approaching. This advanced technology is anticipated to enhance network capabilities tenfold and create a hundredfold increase in business opportunities for operators. At this year’s MWC Shanghai, Huawei is showcasing four major features of 5.5G, including a 10 Gbps downlink, 1 Gbps uplink, 100 billion connections, and native AI integration.
It is also exploring the five connectivity areas expected to go mainstream with 5.5G – connectivity for people, things, vehicles, industry, and homes. Huawei has already started helping a number of operators around the world begin commercial verification of 5.5G. The 5.5G industry will continue growing quickly as the first release of 5.5G standards is expected to be frozen in the first half of 2024, and related technologies have already been extensively verified.
Meng emphasized that Huawei believes it will require the support of customers, ecosystem partners, industry organizations, and academic institutions to continue evolving and reinforcing digital infrastructure. This collaborative effort will accelerate the arrival of the 5.5G era and the intelligent world.
In the future intelligent world, the digital infrastructure will be seamlessly integrated into every aspect of people’s lives, industry, and society as a whole. Meng highlighted two crucial aspects of integrated capabilities. The first aspect involves the integration of different technologies. By employing systematic design and cross-domain innovation, we can achieve greater synergy across the cloud, networks, edge computing, and devices. The second aspect focuses on the integration of diverse management approaches.
