Huawei continues 5G momentum

Source: Huawei. Huawei's 5G momentum continues, says Ding.

Fifty 5G commercial contracts and over 150,000 base stations shipped. This was the update on Huawei's 5G ambitions at MWC Shanghai 2019, where Huawei held the 5G is ON Summit.

In a summit keynote titled Industries + 5G, Enabling New Growth Ryan Ding, Executive Director of the Board and President of the Carrier Business Group at Huawei shared the update and said, "Globally, 5G is gaining strong momentum in its commercial adoption. Since the first half of this year, a good number of countries, including South Korea, UK, Switzerland, Italy, and Kuwait, have commercially launched 5G networks, two-thirds of which were constructed by Huawei.

"Industries are starting to embrace 5G and 5G is starting to explode into prominence by promoting comprehensive digital transformation and improving efficiency in many industries. Huawei's modular and full-series solutions will put operators in unique positions to build green, converged, and ultra-lean 5G commercial networks that drive continuous growth."

Source: Huawei. Peng (right), and Hu (left) unveiled the 5G cloud game joint innovation lab.

Ahead of the main activities at MWC Shanghai 2019, Huawei X Labs and Thunder Fire, NetEase also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a 5G cloud game joint innovation lab. Together, the two parties will work to explore the opportunities in the gaming industry and game experience evaluating models to promote the development of the cloud gaming industry.

The move is part of Huawei's push to bring 5G to cloud gaming. Both parties will conduct joint research into the status quo and demands of game experience, explore 5G-based game experience evaluation models, and develop industrial consensus and standards. There are also plans to optimise cloud games on 5G networks and terminals and ensure cross-platform compatibility.

While 4G boosted the popularity of mobile games, cloud games are projected to thrive with 5G. This would likely change the business model from gamers buying hardware to paying for quality content and the experience instead.

"Breaking the limitations of devices, cloud games offer a 'golden window' for game providers to revive console games with mass-produced games that feature higher-quality pictures and higher playability," said Hu Zhipeng, President of Thunder Fire of NetEase.

"By setting up this joint lab with Huawei X Labs, we hope to explore the possibilities of games in the 5G era and develop cloud game standards through joint efforts."

Peng Honghua, Chief Marketing Officer of Huawei's Wireless Network, said: "4G has nurtured mobile games, and 5G is about to nourish cloud games. 5G offers us powerful tools to provide ultra-high bandwidth, ultra-low latency, and quality of service (QoS) guarantees, clearing last-mile barriers for cloud games. With strong support of 5G and cloud technologies, mobile phones, pads, tablets, computers, and even set-top boxes (STBs) can become game devices, adding new sources to (grow) the cloud industry and presenting new business opportunities. By working with NetEase, Huawei hopes to make a unique contribution to the cloud game industry.

"Recently, Huawei X Labs and Thunder Fire of NetEase jointly completed a series of optimisations on a large online game, Treacherous Waters Online (逆水寒), which is soon to launch on Huawei's cloud computers. Users with Huawei- and Honor-branded mobile phones or tablets with EMUI8.0 or above will be the first in line to experience this game. With 5G commercial licenses issued in China, 5G cloud games will be accessible to more and more users and large console games will be no longer exclusive to high-end players."

EMUI is Huawei's phone operating system.

Huawei notes that two months after 5G was commercially launched in South Korea, the country's 5G user base has grown to one million, with daily average traffic per person of 1.3 GB. 5G's average revenue per user (ARPU) is 75% higher than in 4G, yet the per-GB price for consumers is 90% lower.

There are likely to be benefits across data-heavy use cases. According to Huawei, traditional live TV broadcasting is expensive. Broadcast vehicles cost at least RMB80 million and typically require a team of 150 onsite for recording, editing, transmission, and broadcasting. Satellite transmission is a separate cost.

Cloud broadcasting, on the other hand, could cost under RMB10,000 package for 5G customer-premise equipment (CPE) and five people in the team. The real-time video can be sent back to TV stations over 5G networks, providing a premium experience and allowing greater interaction with secondary locations.

In policing, 5G drones can be rapidly dispatched to scenes without facing the space restrictions that human officers are subject to. 4K HD videos are sent back to the command centre in real time so that centralised surveillance and commanding can be implemented to ensure that details are fully captured.

Huawei's Massive MIMO, Blade Site, and BookRRU solutions help operators build low-power, converged, and ultra-lean 5G networks. Huawei's solutions also support non-standalone/standalone (NSA/SA) dual architecture and can accommodate radio access for all types of terminals. Its active antenna units (AAUs) are 55% smaller and 23% lighter than traditional antenna-connected remote radio units (RRUs).

Details:

MWC Shanghai 2019 will be held in Shanghai, China from June 26 to 28, 2019 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center (SNIEC).