Huawei leads in GlobalData’s 5G RAN landscape assessment

GlobalData has published 5G RAN: Competitive Landscape Assessment, evaluating 5G radio access network (RAN) product portfolios from major equipment vendors.

The assessment serves as both a guide for mobile operators when selecting 5G RAN suppliers and a tool for vendors to assess their own competitiveness over products and solutions. According to the report, Huawei gained the top position in 2H19 and remained the clear leader across the entire 5G RAN portfolio.

The criteria employed in the assessment include baseband unit (BBU) capacity, radio unit portfolio, ease of installation, and technology evolution. The assessment concluded that Huawei's 5G RAN portfolio had the strongest overall leadership, achieving a rating of Leader across all evaluated criteria.

The assessment also examines trends and drivers of 5G RAN markets. According to GlobalData, the constantly increasing data speed demanded by mobile users is driving telecom operators to improve service experiences. The alternative is user churn.
 
The report also predicts that 5G capabilities will promote digital transformation across vertical industries, which will in turn drive further commercial adoption of 5G networks. Fixed wireless broadband in homes and enterprises will also become typical use cases as we advance further into the 5G era.

Huawei boasts a 5G radio unit product portfolio of 94 radio unit products are supported, including 22 Massive MIMO models, 32 integrated antenna models, and 14 dual-band models. In addition, Huawei's 5G RAN radio unit products support 35 NR bands.

Apart from leadership across traditional installation criteria (such as product weight and dimensions), Huawei also delivers multiple innovations to ensure quick, simplified 5G deployments. One example is Super BladeSite, which solves 5G deployment challenges in cases where antenna space is extremely limited, while also reducing the dependence on equipment rooms and air-conditioned facilities.

Huawei's BBU products supports 36 cells with a bandwidth of 100 MHz on the sub-6 GHz and 36 cells with a bandwidth of 400 MHz on the mmWave band. Such high capacity puts operators in very good position to deal with traffic growth well into the future.