Huawei to launch commercial 5.5G network equipment

Huawei will launch a complete set of commercial 5.5G network equipment in 2024 at the 5G Advanced Forum during MWC Shanghai 2023. 

Huawei's Director and President of ICT Products & Solutions Yang Chaobin, who made the announcement, said the company intends for this launch to mark the beginning of the 5.5G era for the ICT industry.

Huawei highlights that 5G deployment has progressed rapidly over the past four years and is already yielding significant financial gains. Today, there are more than 260 commercial 5G networks worldwide, serving over 1.2 billion users and 115 million gigabit F5G users. 

With service models and content continuously evolving, breakthroughs in technologies like glasses-free 3D are creating unprecedented immersive experiences for users. 

However, these new services require more robust 5G network capabilities. The industry has widely agreed that 5.5G will be a crucial milestone in 5G evolution and is fast approaching.

Huawei proposed the concept of a "5.5G Era" based on an end-to-end solution that integrates comprehensive evolved technologies, including 5.5G, F5.5G, and Net5.5G. 

This solution would protect operators' previous investment in 5G while improving network performance by ten times. 

This 5.5G Era would feature 10-gigabit peak downlink speeds and gigabit peak uplink speeds to meet increasingly diverse service requirements. It would also refresh the industry vision by using new technologies like passive IoT to unlock a market of 100 billion IoT connections.

Chaobin Yang, Board Member, President of ICT Products & Solutions, Huawei, explains: "With a clearly defined standardization schedule, the 5.5G Era is already poised for technological and commercial verification."

"In 2024, Huawei will launch a complete set of commercial 5.5G network equipment to be prepared for the commercial deployment of 5.5G." 

"We look forward to working with all industry players to embark on the new journey towards the 5.5G era," says Yang.

As an advocate for end-to-end 5.5G solutions, Huawei has been working with multiple players across the industry on R&D and verification of crucial 5.5G technologies. 

This verification process has made significant progress, specifically for the vast antenna array (ELAA), which underpins 10 gigabit downlinks, flexible spectrum access, which helps realize gigabit uplink, and passive IoT, which can enable 100 billion IoT connections. 

50G PON is another key technology enabling 10-gigabit speeds for F5.5G ultra-broadband networks and is expected to be extensively used in homes, campuses, and productions. 

Huawei has worked with over 30 operators worldwide on technological verification and application pilots for these technologies.

In addition to developing key technologies for 5.5G wireless and optical access networks, Yang announced that the company has been applying AI-native technologies to 5.5G core networks to enhance network capabilities and availability continuously.

This would allow AI capabilities to be delivered to the very ends of networks so that they can better serve numerous industries. 

Huawei says Net5.5G promises 10-gigabit access, ultra-broadband transport, and microsecond-level latency over AI networks, allowing it to serve as a next-generation network foundation for industrial digitalization by providing high-quality network access.

Huawei will showcase its products and solutions at stands E10 and E50 in Hall N1 of the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). 

With global operators, industry professionals, and opinion leaders, Huawei will discuss topics such as speeding up 5G prosperity, striding towards the 5.5G era, and intelligent digital transformation.