Fifth-generation mobile technology (5G) will become critical infrastructure in a super-connected world, Ken Hu, Huawei's Deputy Chairman and Rotating CEO, said today, emphasizing that the 5G vision can be realized only through open cross-industry collaboration, intensive technological innovation, and evolutionary commercialization strategies.
The driving forces for 5G include demand for a superior user experience, the emergence of the Internet of Things, and the requirements of vertical industries in the upcoming industrial revolution, Hu said in a keynote speech at a forum held on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress.
"Fully deployed 5G networks will have the capability to reach over 100 billion smart nodes," Hu said. "This capability is extremely valuable for many applications."
Additionally, 5G's one-millisecond latency will pave the way for self-driving vehicles and industrial applications that require extremely low latency.
Meanwhile, 5G will have a peak speed of 10 Gbit/s, so that downloading an 8G byte high-definition movie takes almost no time: from more than an hour with 3G, to seven minutes with 4G, to six seconds with 5G.
"More than just an upgrade, 5G will become a powerful platform that enables new applications, new business models, and even new industries – as well as many disruptions,"Hu said.
To get to 5G, Hu said that telecommunications operators must first collaborate openly with vertical industries, and let business needs drive standards development and technological innovation.
Second, the industry needs intensive technological innovation, such as Huawei's recent breakthrough in developing a new air interface for future 5G networks.
After years of research, Huawei has successfully developed an adaptive and software-defined air interface architecture that uses technologies including Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA), Filtered-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (F-OFDM), and polar coding. These technologies improve spectrum efficiency at least three-fold, while at the same time allowing for more connections and ultra-low latency.
The industry also needs to innovate in key areas such as network architecture and all-spectrum access, Hu added.
Finally, to get to 5G, Hu said the industry should adopt evolutionary technology commercialization strategies, in which the operators make full use of innovations designed for future 5G networks.
"We believe that such strategies will help mobile operators maximize their return on investment in 4G, stimulate market demand for 5G, and extend their market leadership from 4G to 5G," said Hu.
Huawei announced a 4.5G commercial blueprint in late February. It said that 4.5G, which will come in 2016, would leverage 5G innovations to 4G networks, helping operators increase revenue by delivering a better experience to consumers and offering new applications that provide vertical industries with enhanced network features such as more connections and lower latency than is available from current 4G networks.