PRESS RELEASE: During MWC Shanghai 2024, David Li, the President of Huawei’s 5G & LTE TDD Product Line, introduced the technology evolution for 5G-A at the GSMA 5G-A Industry Roundtable. In his keynote, Li discussed how Huawei is focusing on four key areas to enable new 5G-A experiences and help global operators seize the opportunities being presented by emerging AI applications. These areas include 3D extremely large antenna array (ELAA), differentiated experience solutions, full-time all-scenario green solutions, and AI-powered networks.

A variety of new AI applications have emerged over the last year in PCs, smartphones, wearables and infotainment systems. The types of connections, content, and traffic-models that modern mobile networks need to support are constantly increasing, and user demand for greener, deterministic experiences is also growing. Li explained that Huawei’s research and innovation has been focusing on these four areas to ensure its products will meet customer expectations as 5G-A picks up speed.

Huawei’s 3D ELAA offers improved connection quantity and quality over traditional ELAA. It enables sites to leverage larger signal angles to deliver more beam dimensions and spectrum layers in more scenarios. This means operators can offer more optimal experience without commissioning more sites in all scenarios including residential areas, high-speed railways and outdoor environments. Operators can also use 3D ELAA to ensure consistent 5G experience in urban and rural areas, on ground and in air, meeting the demands of a greater variety of terminals and users.

The company incorporates intelligence into its differentiated experience solutions to improve consumer experience. With intelligence, resource modelling can be dynamic, services can be identified, and speed is improved. These capabilities allow networks to meet diverse requirements of users. For example, networks can provide downlink assurance to stream 4K videos, uplink assurance for HD livestreaming, and latency assurance for cloud gaming. Then operators are able to diversify their packages, enrich user experiences and improve network monetization.

Huawei’s all-day all-scenario green solutions, on the other hand, improve connection efficiency. The amount of energy consumed by mobile networks is increasing dramatically due to the increases in data and mobile connections generated by new AI applications. Huawei’s all-series green hardware and software solutions improve connection efficiency, which helps offset the impact of digital networks on the environment.

The final area Huawei has focused on is AI-powered networks. AI can help carriers better manage their increasingly complex networks by providing role-based copilots and scenario-based agents to manage and optimize the network required when delivering diverse experiences and services. This will completely reshape network O&M, experience, and service for carriers by boosting O&M efficiency, reducing energy consumption, while simultaneously providing assurance for differentiated experience.

Li said during the roundtable, “2024 marks the first year of 5G-A commercialization. In the same year, new changes brought by AI will introduce new opportunities to the mobile industry. Huawei will keep up its effort in these four areas of innovation, to build 5G-A networks that enable connections in all scenarios, offer assurance for all services, and are green all-day. We will continue to work closely with global partners to leverage deterministic network capabilities and embrace the infinite possibilities brought by AI.”