Next generation 5G timescale predicted

Huawei corporate senior vice president, Li Peng, has outlined the “strategic new opportunities” the company believes will be open to the communications technology industry following the anticipated widespread adoption of 5.5G/5G Advanced. His speech took place at Mobile World Congress, which is taking place all this week in Barcelona.

Li Peng

Discussing predictions for the next 12 months, he said: "As the demands on networks have increased, 5.5G [the company’s term for 5G Advanced] has become a key step on the path to the intelligent world. 5.5G is expected to enter commercial use in 2024.”

Requirements for this to come to fruition, he said, would include “uplink ultra-broadband, real time broadband communication” and “full scenario IoT.” He continued that 5.5G "will enable innovative application scenarios and business models.”

The Chinese company has a sizeable presence across this year’s Mobile World Congress, also launching a series of 5.5G related solutions on the first day. These included what it said is the world’s first 5.5G intelligent core network, as introduced on day one of the event by president of the company's cloud core network product line, George Gao.

It also launched what it refers to as the Telecom Foundation Model. According to a press release, this is aimed at “[helping] carriers maximise the value of their networks, especially in areas like guaranteed network experience and automated O&M.”