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.”
A spokesperson for Huawei described the model as providing: “key intelligent technologies that support service innovation, improve operations efficiency, revolutionise network productivity, and realise 5.5G intelligence objectives.
“Technological innovation in the telecom industry has historically resulted in more productive operator networks, but also increased service demands. 5.5G has delivered stronger network capabilities that are supporting the emergence of more diversified services and more business success for operators.
“The industry expects a significant technological transformation to occur soon as these services need higher-level intelligence that features agile service provisioning, accurate user experience assurance, and efficient O and M across domains.”
Codified in 3GPP Release 18, the 5G Advanced standard represents an anticipated enhancement of network performance, strengthening a variety of key services such as automation.
