BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Huawei Carrier BG President Li Peng, delivered a keynote speech today at MWC Barcelona 2023 on reimagining 5G business, reinforcing 5G coverage, and reinventing 5G technologies. In his speech, Li shared insights into user experience and recent 5G development. He said that the industry must work together to accelerate 5G prosperity.

Accelerate 5G prosperity with nonstop innovation

5G has developed rapidly since it entered commercial use three years ago. By the end of 2022, over 1 billion 5G users had watched high-definition streams of major international sports events, and more than 10 million households had access to 5G broadband. "It has taken 5G only three years to achieve the progress 4G made in five years. From this perspective, 5G has already achieved success," Li said.

However, 5G coverage is still unbalanced among different regions and countries. Some consumers are expecting a better 5G experience, while industry digitalization requires more from 5G. "To achieve greater 5G success, the industry needs to reimagine 5G business, reinforce 5G coverage, and reinvent 5G technologies," noted Li.

Reimagine 5G business to drive experience-centric innovation

The true value of 5G is rooted in people's natural desire for better experiences. A recent survey found that the dopamine human brains produce when watching a three-minute HD video is equal to the amount produced during a 30-minute run.

As 5G network capabilities improve, users are able to watch videos in higher definition and from more viewpoints, creating a new standard for next-generation experiences. 70% of users are already willing to pay for better 5G experiences. This means that carriers can adopt the network-as-a-service (NaaS) model to foster a more thriving 5G application and content ecosystem.

With stronger network capabilities, carriers will also be able to further expand the home and SME markets. There are still 200 million copper broadband lines that are in urgent need of upgrade around the world and more than 60 million SMEs want access to leased line services. One European carrier had already achieved a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of above 90% and increased its ARPU by over 60% by providing 5G FWA.

Reinforce 5G coverage to provide better experiences to more users

Deeper 5G coverage is helping carriers better monetize experience. This is well evidenced by the world's top 20 carriers in 5G network rollout, who achieved significantly higher ARPU and revenue growth than the global average last year.

Global carriers are thinking more about how to extend 5G coverage from outdoors to indoors and from urban to suburban and rural areas. By increasing the coverage of 5G base stations and allowing 5G signals to penetrate more walls and buildings, they can help more users to enjoy better experiences.

Reinvent 5G technologies for new breakthroughs in network capacity and coverage

Innovation in 5G base station equipment would also be required to provide deeper coverage. Along this line, in 2022, Huawei launched MetaAAU, its third-generation AAU for 5G base stations. Compared with its previous generation counterpart, MetaAAU offers about 30% higher capacity and coverage, making it a prime choice for carriers pursuing deeper 5G coverage.

This year, Huawei also launched its Meta BladeAAU, allowing for simple deployment of 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks on a single pole.

From 5G to 5.5G: 10-fold capabilities for 100-fold opportunities

Looking ahead to the future, Leading carriers are now working closely with 3GPP to advance the 5G standard and make the leap to 5.5G.

5.5G will expand on 5G, but will be faster, more automated, and more intelligent than 5G, and support more frequency bands.

5.5G will deliver 10 times greater network capabilities, which will translate into 100 times more opportunities. Free-viewpoint video, enterprise cloudification, mobile private networks, passive IoT, and integrated sensing and communication will all develop rapidly thanks to these advances in 5G.

At the end of his speech, Li emphasized that all industry partners will need to work together and innovate nonstop to accelerate this leap in 5G prosperity.

MWC Barcelona 2023 runs from February 27 to March 2 in Barcelona, Spain. Huawei showcases its products and solutions at stand 1H50 in Fira Gran Via Hall 1. Together with global operators, industry professionals, and opinion leaders, we dive into topics such as 5G business success, 5.5G opportunities, green development, digital transformation, and our vision of using the GUIDE business blueprint to lay the foundation for 5.5G and build on the success of 5G for even greater prosperity. For more information, please visit: https://carrier.huawei.com/en/events/mwc2023.