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Chinas Huawei Technologies is no doubt under the spotlight this year. It is aggressively expanding its 5G network equipment business as it aims to become the worlds second-largest smartphone maker over the next 12 months.
Last Monday Huaweis global chief executive Ken Hu said the company has signed memorandums of understanding with 45 operators in Asia, Europe and North America for the deployment of 5G technology. In fact, it is already conducting pre-commercial trials with 30 mobile players.The statement came after Reuters reported last week that Swedens Ericsson has secured 38 MoUs while Finlands Nokia has signed 31 MoUs on 5G. This suggests that Huawei has outpaced its two European rivals in the 5G field.
Right before the Mobile World Congress opened, Vodafone and Huawei announced that they had completed the worlds first 5G call, using the non-standalone 3GPP 5G new radio standard and sub-6 GHz spectrum.
The call used a test network and test device to perform the 4G to 5G dual connectivity live data call. This means the connection started on 4G and then established the data connection on 5G. Engineers from both firms also successfully tested a live HD video call using the same method.
Huawei also worked with US chip maker Intel to make the worlds first 5G new radio over-the-air interoperability trial using the latest 3GPP standards.
In Barcelona, the Chinese firm unveiled its first 5G chip Belong 5G01 and launched its first 5G commercial equipment, demonstrating its determination to tap the huge potential of the new mobile technology. Huaweis first 5G smartphone is expected to be launched next year.
It appears that Huawei has made itself very conspicuous at the Mobile World Congress to highlight its focus on 5G network equipment, chip and smartphone.
Indeed, 5G is a key battlefield for all telecommunications equipment makers, as it represents a breakthrough in mobile technology, particularly in people to people, people to machine, and machine to machine communications.This new communications technology could very well be the driver of global economic growth in the next decade.
Huawei is undoubtedly a leader in the 5G market with focus on network infrastructure. The new technology presents the best opportunity for Huawei to challenge current market leaders Ericsson and Nokia in the market.
