As of October 2022, the industry has set up over three million 5G base stations, serving more than 700 million subscribers
On Huawei’s 13th Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF), Ken Hu, the company’s Rotating Chairman, outlined his vision of driving the development of 5.5G and maximising the value of 5G.
During his keynote speech on 5G, he said that the industry needs to work together to fully unleash the power of 5G networks and expand into services like cloud and system integration.
“5G has grown faster than any previous generation of mobile technology,” began Hu.
“In telecoms, as 5G becomes more prevalent, its driving a sharp rise in high-definition video traffic. New mobile applications that take advantage of 5G’s greater speeds and lower latency have doubled average user data consumption (DOU) and are increasing average revenue per user (ARPU) by 20 per cent–40 per cent, contributing to steady growth in carrier revenue from connectivity.”
He also talked about how B2B 5G applications in 2021, brought over CNY3.4 billion (around $500 million) in new revenue from over 3,000 industrial 5G projects. These projects also generated 10 times that amount from data and integrated ICT services.
Opportunities of growth
Hu said that 5G is enabling new service scenarios, applications, and business models, which is paving the way for unprecedented growth opportunities in the industry.
Hu outlined three points in order to seize these opportunities of growth. Building networks beyond coverage, by building it in a way that will optimise different types of experience was his first point of focus.
Then, he emphasised the importance of creating 5.5G services and suggested four features for 5.5G, including native intelligence, support for 100 billion connections, 10 Gbps downlink, and 1 Gbps uplink.
Lastly he talked about fully optimising 5G’s value by carriers delivering experiences like extended reality (XR), cloud gaming, and enriched calling services for individual consumers.
Hu said: “5G is in the fast lane 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.”
