This year’s Huawei-hosted Global MBB Forum took place in Dubai, and focussed in particular on the evolution of the 5G standard towards 5.5G. (Or in 3GPP language, 5G Advanced).
As with last year’s iteration, it was an interesting event, providing a way for the communications industry to address itself in strategic terms. Naturally enough, there was also a focus on the host region, as evidenced across numerous presentations.
The conference began with a conversation between rotating and acting Huawei chair Ken Hu, and director general of the GSMA, Mats Granryd. Hu began by outlining the evolution of 5G up until this point, beginning with its commercial launch four years ago.
He said: “In the past four years, [the industry] has achieved a great deal of progress. There are more than 260 5G networks in the world, covering nearly half of the world’s population.
“It’s clear that the adoption of 5G is much faster than 4G. Also, the capability of 5G gave our industry great opportunities to get access into the B2B market.
"At the early stage of 5G network deployment, many operators started to work with vertical industries to trial various solutions. We have identified certain industries such as ports and manufacturing where we can commercially scale up 5G capability.”
Regarding the latter point in particular, this apparent growing interest in 5G on the part of business verticals was also a major theme running through the event. This was likewise reiterated by Granryd, who said: “There is no doubt the consumer benefit is there [with 5G], and we see the willingness of consumers to pay slightly more. That’s certainly encouraging for GSMA members.
“We believe that by 2030, 5G will have 5.2 billion subscribers. But its capabilities are possibly even stronger for business to business, where we’re seeing many really interesting use cases emerge.”
He illustrated the latter point via a mention of this year’s Mobile World Congress, where he said that participation was more than 50 per cent from companies which operate outside of the ICT industry.
“So clearly, there is something going on there, with other industries such as fintech, aviation and automotive” he said. “They want to understand, how can I use connectivity and this new mobile technology in a way to improve my own business?”.
The discussion then moved onto where the “journey” would lead in five years’ time. The expectation moving forward, according to Hu, is to “enhance our capability, evolve the technology, [provide] better user experience, scale up in industry, and maximise our investment.”
He continued: “We need to have better network coverage to support consistent speed. And we need more applications, and we need to activate the ecosystem, particularly the application developers.
“For business, the key is scalability and capability. We need to scale up to focus on the key scenarios and key industries that we have already identified. Particularly, to work with ecosystem partners and the vertical industries [themselves].”
As indicated, according to both Hu and Granryd, the success of 5G as a standard will depend on the continual evolution of both the network and the applications ecosystem. This specifically includes what might – still – be regarded as ‘emerging’ technologies, such as the cloud and artificial intelligence.
Regional focus
Drilling deeper into the technology itself – and the evolution of broadband in particular – the next presentation came from GSMA chief technology officer, Alex Sinclair.
After reiterating the popularity of 5G as a standard, he talked about imminent developments “to support ongoing innovation.” These include improvements in MIMO, uplink coverage, dynamic spectrum sharing, and integrated access backhaul.
He continued: “As well as improved [location] accuracy, 5G is crucially the first wireless technology that can reliably replace cables for mission critical systems. This enables all kind of business [to have] greater flexibility, at the same time as reducing costs.
“Future 5G value will also be driven by making available enriched network functionality, enabling developers to join in with us in building a digital ecosystem which will benefit operators, industries and consumers.”
Staying on the subject of this “ecosystem,” Sinclair then mentioned the launch of the GSMA’s ‘Open Gateway’. “Using the well-established concept of roaming, interoperability, Open Gateway provides a framework of common, network APIs, bringing universal access to networks,” he said.
The ”exposure of advanced 5G functionality through common APIs” is intended to leverage new ways to monetise 5G and “deliver new services on a global scale,” he said. APIs include device location, SIM swap, edge discovery and quality on demand.
As with last year’s parallel event in Thailand, a key element of the conference content was provided by speakers hailing from the host region. In 2023, the first such presentation was delivered by Saif Bin Ghelaita, executive director technology development affairs, for the UAE’s Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority.
He said: “UAE has seen the first 5G network in the region, launched commercially in 2019. The development of 5G in the UAE has been remarkable, and covers 93 per cent of the population. It has facilitated digitisation of various industries.
“I am proud that the UAE is at the forefront of 5G and 5.5G development. We have recently announced the success of phase two of the 5G advanced trials project. This demonstrated that 5G speed can be increased by ten times by using the 6GHz frequency rate. This significant achievement puts the UAE in a leading position in adopting 5.5G technology.”
Another presentation focussing on how the Middle East is anticipated to be “empowered” by 5G was delivered on the second day. This was given by CEO of SAMENA Telecommunications Council in the UAE, Bocar Ba.
He began by talking about his confidence that by this time (October) of next year, “we will have brought 5G’s next evolutionary phase into reality.” He continued by stating that “digital transformation, technology integration and economic diversification” are the “main pillars of progress” which are being seen in the region.
He continued: “Mobile technology has a direct impact in strengthening these pillars, and supporting the anticipated social and economic revolution, in what we hope would be a sustainable digital future.”
From here, Bocar Ba moved onto the anticipated use cases of 5G itself, taking in improved data accessibility, improved processes as well as the “efficient use of assets.” In relation to certain use cases, he said, “we can even observe the direct impact of advanced technologies on the livelihood and wellbeing of those working in those industries.”
Addressing the oil and gas sector in particular, he said that 5G was enabling digital transformation in those fields. This, he said, was through the use of IoT devices, AR, VR and robotics.
“Similarly, we see the role of digital technology on the education front. For instance – to give an example from a neighbouring country – in Uzbekistan, where children are being prepared to lead their lives using digital technologies.
“A complete digital education ecosystem is being developed, providing digital tools for all [parts of] the educational process. This ranges from regulatory authorities to education administrators.”
Use cases
For the business and mission critical sectors, perhaps the most important aspect of the discussion around 5G is what will it enable organisations to do that they can’t do now? More to the point, how will it facilitate increased productivity, safety and efficiency?
With that in mind, several pertinent use cases were touched upon during the event, not least autonomous driving (and delegates were able to witness an autonomous vehicle in action in the grounds of the conference centre). Perhaps the most anticipated use case – as touched on above – is VR and AR taking place being deployed in real time.
The latter in particular was discussed during Zhang Jing from TCL CSOT’s presentation on 5G eyewear to “enable a ubiquitous immersive display experience.” The efficiency piece, meanwhile, was at the centre of TD Tech vice president, Ding Xin’s, presentation on RedCap (Reduced Capability) technology.
For those who don’t know, RedCap – otherwise known as NR Light – is designed for what might be regarded as ‘mid-tier’, IoT, use cases (that is, those which don’t necessarily require the high-performance capability of 5G at the top end). It was introduced as a concept in 3GPP Release 17.
The Global MBB Forum is a useful event for those wishing to understand the ongoing evolution of industry strategy, as well as the technology itself. With 5.5G/5G Advanced now firmly at the centre of the discussion - and the 6G standardisation process about to pick up speed - it will be interesting to see where we are in a year’s time.
