Dubai, UAE - Huawei inaugurated the 14th Global Mobile Broadband Forum in Dubai, UAE, with Li Peng, President of Carrier BG at Huawei, delivering a keynote address. In his speech, Li Peng called upon global carriers and industry partners to meet the growing demands on networks and harness future trends to propel the 5G business cycle positively.
Li emphasized the importance of building networks for future services and unlocking the infinite potential of 5G for sustained success. He noted that 5G-Advanced, often referred to as 5.5G (5G-A), is the natural evolution of 5G and is a significant step toward achieving 5G's full potential.
He underlined that history has shown that major economic transformations stem from innovation in general-purpose technologies, and we are currently in the digital age, with the Internet driving the digital economy. Li contended that 5G plays a pivotal role in this new economic transformation, driving innovation in general-purpose technologies and opening up new markets and opportunities in digital industries.
Li identified six key features that future mobile networks must possess: 10 Gbps downlink, 1 Gbps uplink, deterministic networking, support for a hundred billion IoT connections, integrated sensing and communication, and native AI capabilities. To make these features a reality, carriers and industry stakeholders need to enhance capabilities in three core usage scenarios: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type communications (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC). Furthermore, they must develop new capabilities, including Uplink Centric Broadband Communication (UCBC) and Real-Time Broadband Communication (RTBC).
On the subject of 5G-Advanced, Li stressed the importance of fostering device and application ecosystems, verifying use case scenarios, and accelerating the large-scale commercialization of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) Square, Passive IoT, and RedCap. These efforts are essential to leverage five significant trends that will shape the intelligent digital future.
Glasses-Free 3D: The glasses-free 3D industry is maturing rapidly, with technologies like cloud rendering and real-time 3D virtual humans advancing the immersive experience. More devices, including mobile phones and TVs, are expected to support glasses-free 3D, significantly increasing data traffic.
Self-Guided Vehicles: By 2025, there will be over 500 million smart vehicles on the road. High-bandwidth and low-latency networks will enable real-time sharing of information between smart vehicles, people, roads, and the cloud, with data consumption rising substantially in assisted-driving and self-driving scenarios.
Next-Gen Manufacturing: Network slicing and edge computing breakthroughs have led to a hundredfold increase in 5G private networks for enterprise use, with a market size exceeding US$10 billion. The deployment of core production systems on the cloud necessitates higher 5G network requirements.
Generalized Cellular IoT: Over three billion mobile IoT connections exist globally, with 5G connecting more things than people. The near future will see 5G supporting a broader range of IoT technologies, facilitating data flow and computing power efficiency in various scenarios.
Guaranteed Intelligent Computing Everywhere: AI advancements will drive a 100-fold increase in AI computing demand by 2025. Advanced network capabilities, including larger bandwidth and lower latency, are crucial for powering intelligent connectivity and delivering a reliable experience.
During the event, Huawei's Rotating Chairman, Ken Hu, and Mats Granryd, Director General of GSMA, discussed the current state of 5G development and future projections. Ken Hu outlined key consumer-facing initiatives for mobile operators to ensure ongoing business success, including expanding network coverage, enhancing user experience, and exploring flexible pricing models. In the B2B market, he suggested leveraging proven 5G applications to drive widespread 5G adoption across industries.
GSMA's proposed Open Gateway initiative was introduced as a means to support cross-industry innovation. Open Gateway is a framework of common APIs that offer universal access to operator network capabilities, enabling developers and cloud service providers to create new digital services. With approximately 240 mobile operators already on board, representing over 62% of the world's mobile subscribers, Open Gateway aims to activate the ecosystem and promote greater development opportunities for 5G in both consumer and industry digitalization markets.
