Powering a Positive 5G Business Cycle and Embracing 5.5G

This blog post is adapted from a speech given by Li Peng, Huawei’s Corporate Vice President and President of Carrier Business Group, at Global MBB Forum 2023.

In this blog post, I share my thoughts about how we can drive greater 5G success.

If we look back at history, every major economic transformation came from innovations in general purpose technologies.

The agricultural economy was enabled by water wheels, which allowed for large-scale irrigation. In the industrial economy, electric power reshaped manufacturing and launched the age of electricity.

Now we're in the digital age, where the Internet is powering the digital economy. 

5G-enabled GPTs and the intelligent digital economy

We know that 5G is a critical part of this new economic transformation, as it enables new innovations in general purpose technologies. For digital industries, 5G is developing fast, opening up new markets and opportunities. By the end of 2022, there were over 1 billion 5G users. With 4G, it took us eight years to reach one billion users. But with 5G, we did it in only four years. 
    
In traditional industries, 5G is driving digital transformation. Today, there are more than 18,000 5G-enabled digitalization projects around the world, and the number is still growing. These projects bring incredible new value to industries, like oil and gas, mining, healthcare, ports, and smart cities. 

5G: From vision to reality

For enhanced-MBB services, innovation in multi-antenna arrays and beamforming deliver gigabit downlink and megabit uplink capabilities. For mMTC services, technologies like 5G New Radio and NB-IoT already support more than three billion IoT connections around the world. As for uRLLC, with breakthroughs in network slicing and edge computing, we have seen a 100-fold increase in 5G virtual private networks over the past four years. 

5G has shaped the digital economy we see today. 

how will it shape the future?

Five trends shaping the future

Five trends are changing how we live and work, and will have a significant impact on social and economic development.

1.    Glasses-free 3D

The glasses-free 3D industry ecosystem is maturing quickly, with more mobile phones, tablets, PCs, and TVs now supporting the technology. Poised to increase data traffic by up to ten times, glasses-free 3D will give rise to many new applications, like 3D livestreaming and virtual humans.

For single-viewpoint 3D, data consumption will double. For example, a 4K 3D movie will consume more than 50 gigabytes of data. Light field technology will support ninety-six different viewpoints for an optimal experience, no matter where you sit. For example, to stream an 8K 3D video, networks need to support peak speeds up to 10 gigabits per second.

2.    Smart vehicles 

In 2022 alone, smart vehicle sales exceeded 70 million worldwide. And by 2025, there will be more than 500 million smart vehicles on the world’s roads.

With high-bandwidth and low-latency networks, smart vehicles will be able to share information with people, vehicles, roads, and the cloud in real time. In assisted-driving scenarios, smart vehicles will consume more than 300 gigabytes of data every month for cloud-based model training and weekly algorithm updates. 

In self-driving scenarios, data consumption will rise by 100 times. In Beijing, there are already thousands of self-driving vehicles on the road. Each vehicle generates hundreds of terabytes of data every day.

For applications like this, 5.5G/5G-Advanced networks will be critical. With gigabit uplink and stable latency, they can support the real-time backhaul of one terabyte of data, enabling algorithm updates within hours. 

3.    The digitalization of traditional industries 

Moving forward, digitalization will extend from support systems to core production systems.

These scenarios will place much higher demands on 5G networks. Network latency must be lower than 5 milliseconds, with five-to-six nines reliability. And we will also need network innovations, like dual-fed, selective receiving and deterministic scheduling for both uplink and downlink. These features will help support high levels of concurrence  and deterministic networking, and connect cloud and edge computing power more efficiently.

In China, Huawei has worked with a carrier and industry partners to build the industry’s first 5G-Advanced based production line. The trial was a success, opening up a US$100 billion US-dollar market for 5G-enabled industrial controls.

4.    Cellular IoT

The demand for cellular IoT is rising. In addition to NB-IoT, 5G will also need to support medium-speed RedCap and Passive IoT. This will expand IoT connections across even more scenarios, supporting more than 100 billion IoT connections.

RedCap enables 300 Mbps downlink and 100 Mbps uplink. It can also support home broadband and video transmission services, delivering a fiber-like user experience. Passive IoT enables wide coverage and precision positioning, which is suitable for end-to-end smart logistics. For example, in the home appliance manufacturing sector, Passive IoT provides visibility along the entire distribution and production chain, and increases overall productivity by 30%.

5.    Intelligent computing power

With the rise of useful developments like foundation models, demand for AI computing power will double every three to four months. And by 2025, it will be 100 times greater than it is today.

Larger bandwidth and lower latency networks are crucial for unleashing the full potential of AI computing power. Networks will also need to become AI-native. As traffic models begin to change, future networks will need to be more autonomous and intelligent to deliver a reliable experience.

To enable these five trends, mobile networks need to have six key features: 

•    10-Gbps downlink
•    1-Gbps uplink
•    Deterministic networking
•    Support for a 100 billion IoT connections
•    Integrated sensing and communication
•    AI-native

Besides enhanced-MBB, mMTC, and URLLC, we also need another three network capabilities: 

•    Uplink Centric Broadband Communication 
•    Real-Time Broadband Communication 
•    and ‘Harmonized Communication and Sensing’

For these reasons, 5G-Advanced is the natural next step in 5G's evolution.

The first 5G-Advanced standard will be frozen soon. Carriers around the world are working hard with technology providers like Huawei to verify 5G-Advanced technologies.

To date, we have achieved downlink rates of 10 Gbps based on Extremely Large Antenna Array (ELAA) technology. Verifications of next-gen technologies, like 5G FWA square, Passive IoT, and RedCap, are also underway. In terms of products, technology, and scenario-based applications, 

Huawei is ready for the large-scale commercial deployment of 5G-Advanced networks.

Future services 

Future services will be more immersive, intelligent, and real-time, and tomorrow’s networks will be more ubiquitous, autonomous, and integrated. To make this happen, we need to work more closely across the value chain to improve 5G network capabilities, drive device innovation, cultivate a rich application ecosystem, and perform scenario-based verification.

Let’s start today, build tomorrow's networks for future services, unleash 5G's infinite potential for continuous success.

We are already on the right path towards 5G business success. And to quote an old saying, "Every arrival is the start of a new and greater journey."

Let's work together to power a positive 5G business cycle and embrace 5.5G.

Learn more about Huawei’s 5G products and solutions. 

Disclaimer: Any views and/or opinions expressed in this post by individual authors or contributors are their personal views and/or opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of Huawei Technologies.