‘One trillion gigabytes’: Forget 6G, Huawei bets on 5.5G to boost mobile networks – AI seems to be the mantra everywhere, but will it be enough?
At MWC 2024, Huawei went hard on 5.5G, discussing how this technology can “unlock the potential of networks and create new growth opportunities.”
Li Peng, Corporate Senior Vice President and President of ICT Sales & Service of Huawei, explained: “5G is on the right path to business success. 5G started hitting the market in 2019 and has already gained 1.5 billion users worldwide in the past five years. It took nine years for 4G to achieve this. Currently, 20% of global mobile subscribers use 5G. These users generate 30% of all mobile traffic and contribute to 40% of mobile services revenue. 5.5G will be in commercial use by 2024 And as 5.5G, AI and the cloud converge, carriers can unlock the potential of new applications and capabilities.”
The new capabilities of 5.5G, including deterministic latency, precise positioning and passive IoT, are expected to create even more opportunities for carriers in the B2B market. Huawei stated that it has already helped operators launch commercial 5.5G verification and testing in more than twenty cities around the world, and that it aims to build ubiquitous networks that will accelerate us to an “intelligent world” can lead.
AI everywhere
As expected, AI was a major focus during Huawei’s presentations. Huawei Cloud demonstrated its potential suitability as the “infrastructure of choice for AI applications” by unveiling ten AI-oriented innovations, including KooVerse, QingTian distributed architecture, AI compute, AI-Native storage, E2E security, GaussDB, Data -AI convergence, Media infrastructure, landing zone and flexible deployment.
The company also discussed how AI-powered content is driving a wave of new data traffic. Looking to the future, Huawei predicts that by 2026 alone, “AI will be used to produce more than 250 billion images and 70 million videos, completely redefining the global approach to content creation.” To put that into context, the company says AIGC will power the creation of more than 100 billion gigabytes of data, and power well over a trillion gigabytes of data traffic, of which 5.5G will have to take up a significant portion.
“We are rapidly approaching an intelligent world,” Peng said. “As demands on networks have increased, 5.5G has become an important step towards the intelligent world. 5.5G is expected to enter commercial use by 2024. So let’s build today’s networks for tomorrow’s applications to drive the intelligent world forward. “