5G deployments have progressed rapidly over the past four years and Huawei says that the technology is already yielding significant financial gains.
Today there are more than 260 commercial 5G networks worldwide, serving over 1.2 billion users and there are already 115 million gigabit f5G users.
However, new services continue to require stronger 5G network capabilities and the industry has widely agreed that 5.5G will be a key milestone in the evolution of the network.
Huawei proposed the concept of a “5.5G Era” which is based on an end-to-end solution that integrates technologies including 5.5G, F5.5G and Net5.5G.
The 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.
Yang Chaobin, director and president of ICT solutions at Huawei said: "With a clearly defined standardisation 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."
In addition to the development of key technologies for 5.5G wireless and optical access networks, Yang announced that the company has been working on applying AI-native technologies to 5.5G core networks to continuously enhance network capabilities and availability.
This would allow AI capabilities to be delivered to the very ends of networks, so that they can better serve numerous industries.
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 digitalisation by providing high-quality network access.
Huawei adds that the industry is still in the early stages of developing a vision for 6G. This is why many have turned to 5.5G for future development.
