PARTNER CONTENT: ZTE CEO Xu Ziyang (pictured) highlighted the central role of intelligent innovation in connecting the world in an era of rapid technological progress, which is transforming productivity across society, during a conference hosted by the company in Istanbul.
Xu detailed four key types of connections that are reshaping industries: data links, connecting the world seamlessly; wisdom links, redefining computing power and intelligence; symbiotic links, building ecosystem collaboration, where technology and the environment evolve together; and civilisation links, connecting carbon-based life and silicon-based intelligence.
The CEO argued civilisation links open up endless possibilities for collaboration between humans and AI.
He delivered the opening keynote at the company’s two-day 5G Summit & User Congress 2024 organised under the theme Flourish Through Intelligent Innovation, attracting industry professionals from across the telecoms ecosystem.
ZTE’s in-house developed Nebula large-language model (LLM) has 70 billion parameters, with its telecoms model aiming to accelerate the move to autonomous network to allow operators to reduce the workload of manual maintenance by 80 per cent, he said.
“As we support digital transformation, green transition is a core principle guiding our commitment.” He noted each year ZTE reduces its carbon emissions by 10 per cent, with the target to become carbon neutral across Scope 1 and 2 (direct and indirect emissions) and by 2040 and reach net zero by 2050.
Xu highlighted these gains are driven by the company’s long-term R&D commitment, with 20 per cent of revenue invested to support innovation.
He closed his speech by saying the “flow of bits, like the ceaseless waters of the Bosphorus Strait, connects our physical and digital worlds,” with the evolution of connections driving the progress of civilisation.
“Together, let’s bridge the world through connectivity, create new opportunities with digital intelligence and usher in a new era of human civilisation.”
Driving innovation
GSMA Ltd CEO John Hoffman argued in his presentation 5G is a platform for success and will “breed innovation across the world”.
Looking at its impact on sustainability, he suggested 5G has the potential to make a huge difference beyond the telecoms sector, which as a whole only contributes about 1 per cent of carbon emissions worldwide. That figure has remained fairly flat despite an increase in mobile data traffic carried over networks.
He said 5G technology also can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of other sectors, referring to figures estimating technology can drive a 40 per cent reduction in industries that account for 80 per cent of global CO2 emissions.
Turkiye’s Deputy Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Omer Fatih Sayan highlighted 5G forms the infrastructure of tomorrow’s technologies thanks to its high bandwidth and low latency.
Sayan noted 5G is so important because it promises high-capacity and high-speed connectivity, transforming the global economy and radically changing industries by creating new business areas. He added “5G is one of the biggest turning points of the modern world “if we make the right use of the technology and we use this opportunity.”
Innovation refers not only to the production of new technologies but “how these technologies can revolutionise our lives and lead to radical changes across society,” he stated.
Preparing for 6G
Sergio Parolati, 3GPP RAN2 Session chair, outlined progress using AI-ML to enable energy saving in the RAN, with network energy consumption reduced by about 35 per cent in trials. He pointed out the gains are not simulation but based on field tests in China with 7,200 sites and driven by additional gains from smart AI enabled energy savings.
He noted one of the problems with the 5G architecture for AI is every node is isolated and has its own AI module. “They don’t talk to each other so you can’t exploit the full capabilities.”
Moving to 6G, he said the industry needs to move to a distributed AI approach with multiple modules and multiple nodes that can operate together. “We also need a more flexible efficient management of data collection.”
GSMA CTO Alex Sinclair highlighted three areas where 5G-Advanced will push tech boundaries: performance improvements of existing platforms, better management and efficiency, and support for specific use cases, such as edge computing and enhanced satellite connectivity.
Around 300 mobile operators globally have launched 5G services in more than 100 markets, Sinclair added. China accounts for nearly half of worldwide 5G subscribers, or almost 1 billion.
He noted 5G had the fastest rollout of any mobile generation, taking just six years to reach 1 billion users, compared with 12 years for 3G.
Product showcase
Aside from the conference programme, ZTE showed off its comprehensive line-up of wireless and wireline products and services, underscoring the transformative potential of intelligent innovation.
The exhibition featured its full range of general-purpose and intelligent computing servers and storage products. Among the many wireless products on display, the 5G-A zone demonstrated advanced business applications, include a maritime sensing demo as a prototype.
The expo showcased its AI OpsBot Core Network Intelligent Expert, which combines large and small AI models with multiple intelligent agents. The solution adopts natural language interaction to enhance O&M efficiency by 30 per cent compared with traditional manual operations.
The event also held demos of ZTE’s latest innovations of wireline product and network, featuring groundbreaking solutions like the terabit OTN, a cost-effective 800GE IP network and next-generation all-optical access infrastructure.
Recent milestones
ZTE deployed tri-mode 50G PON and FTTR-B with Turk Telecom to build an advanced campus network, eliminating bandwidth bottlenecks in high-concurrency scenarios.
The company is working with TIM in Brazil to deploy its five-band UBR, enabling the rapid and cost-effective 5G site deployment.
In Kazakhstan, ZTE collaborated with Veon to complete Giga City using the vendor’s FDD Massive MIMO, resulting in a significant increase in 4G network throughput and improved quality of service, enabling 5G-like capabilities.