GSMA, China Telecom & Huawei on 5G; GSMA says 40% of the world’s population will be on 5G by 2025
Mats Granryd, the Director General of the telecom trade organisation GSMA talked up 5G and AI in a keynote speech on “intelligent connectivity” at Huawei’s MBB 2018 event at London’s ExCel. Granryd said those two emerging technologies will be key enablers for what the telecom industry has to offer in the years to come. Granryd discussed the potential of 5G to drive inclusion, growth and sustainable development, especially in the developing world. He also touched on the impact of “smart” capabilities like artificial intelligence and network capabilities, and how such networks and technologies must be secure to drive the growth not only of smart cities, but all cities. He said intelligent management will be key with “the development of a rich and vibrant digital economy.”
In addition to predicting that 70% of the world’s population, or roughly 6 billion people will be on mobile internet, GSMA forecast 40% of the world population will be on 5G networks. When it comes to AI, on top of improving individual experience (e.g. Personal Assistants) and serving new industry needs (e.g. network slicing), Granryd highlighted what the combined AI capabilities can do for society. The GSMA’s “Big Data for Social Good” initiative has launched in seven countries around the world. Mobile operators in those markets have worked with local partners to enable air pollution warning, malaria spreading prediction, and natural disaster preparedness, using big data and machine learning and prediction capabilities.
Guiqing Liu, EVP of China Telecom, the world’s largest integrated operators in the world by subscriber number, then took the stage to share what China Telecom saw as the biggest opportunity for telecom operators to undertake the digital transformation, especially with the ascendancy of industry markets. Liu included four key capabilities the industry in particular the operators need to master to succeed in the transformation. They are:
- End-to-end slicing to cater to different user and industry needs;
- FMC (Fixed to Mobile Convergence) edge computing to deliver seamless experience;
- 5G+Cloud based network and services to provide flexible and special customization; and
- 5G+AI to both optimise service delivery and network management.
Liu also outlined the key challenges the industry is facing before 5G can become a real commercial success. He conceded that use cases now are still very much focused on eMBB, and the industry has not thought through how to change business models in the new era, including how to bill customers for the new use cases. On network challenges, in addition to the CAPEX and OPEX and skill gap, Liu also pointed the indoor coverage weakness intrinsic of the high frequency bands most 5G networks will be built on. For 5G to truly be transformative and improve people’s lives, Liu said that companies will need to work together and collaborate – even if they’ve traditionally been rivals.
Ken Hu, deputy and rotating chairperson of Huawei stressed the importance 5G was already playing in shaping the future of not only business, but humanity, adding Huawei has been working on 5G for more than 10 years. “We believe 5G will make a big contribution to our society.” Hu also said 5G was leading to the integration of previously separate technologies and services not unlike individual pieces of Lego bricks being combined to make something larger – fundamentally changing the definition of what a telco or technology company is. The user experience will be redefined by 5G.”
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Outside the main presentation halls, a number of booths showcased both Huawei technologies and those from Huawei partners. A “5G bus” drove people around the surrounding Docklands area. The demo drive showed that 5G connections, download speeds and more could all be achieved while physically moving across large distances at a high speed and in poor weather (this being London, it was fittingly rainy, windy and cold). Tents erected outside ExCel London were also stuffed with 5G use case demonstrations.
References:
http://telecoms.com/493703/40-of-the-worlds-population-on-5g-by-2025-says-gsma/
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UK and Germany grow wary of Huawei as US turns up pressure-Delegation from Washington warns against using Chinese supplier for 5G networks. US, Australia and New Zealand have already blocked the use of Huawei 5G equipment on national security grounds.
The UK and Germany are growing wary of allowing Huawei, the Chinese telecoms company, to install 5G equipment in their countries after a US delegation visited Europe to urge heightened vigilance against national security threats.
UK security officials on Thursday issued a new public warning to Huawei, saying the Chinese company must fix problems in the equipment it provides to British networks or risk a further deterioration in what is an increasingly strained relationship.
The clear message delivered by the US delegation this month and in online communications is that Germany and the UK as key American allies must safeguard the security of their telecoms networks and supply chains, said people familiar with the situation.
The warnings come as Germany and the UK are preparing for auctions next year for 5G, a superfast service that will enable a new generation of digital products and services. Huawei is the world’s biggest telecoms equipment supplier and has been seen as a frontrunner to build the first networks in both countries, where it has conducted extensive 5G tests.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of the digital intelligence agency GCHQ, said Huawei must fix problems, highlighted in July, that pose “new risks in UK telecommunications networks”.
The issues came to a head in a tense meeting between the board set up to scrutinize Huawei equipment and the Chinese company earlier this month, said government officials and telecoms executives.
“As you might imagine there are some strains in the relationship as we deal with the issues set out in the latest oversight board report,” the spokesperson said. “But we remain committed to working with the company to put it right.”
Banning Huawei outright from providing 5G equipment to UK providers or removing them from existing telecoms networks remains unlikely, officials said. But the message to the Chinese company is clear.
“They are slowing down Huawei to allow the rest of the market to catch up,” said one former intelligence official. “If I was part of oversight board or government, I would be putting the boot in right now.”
UK security officials rejected the suggestion they are hardening their stance in response to growing pressure from the US, insisting the concerns are not based on Huawei’s Chinese origins as a company but on the way the company manufactures software and equipment which makes critical telecoms networks vulnerable to cyber attack.
A spokesperson for Huawei said: “We are grateful for this feedback and committed to addressing these issues. Cyber security remains Huawei’s top priority, and we will continue to actively improve our engineering processes and risk management systems.”
New Zealand this week became the latest country to take action against Huawei, blocking one of its biggest telecoms operators from using Huawei’s 5G equipment. The US and Australia have already blocked the company on national security grounds.
In Germany, officials said the mood in government was growing increasingly wary of Huawei’s potential involvement in building the country’s 5G network. While it is too early to say if Berlin will ban the Chinese company from participating, concerns in some parts of the government, including the foreign and interior ministries, is deepening, officials said.
“The US influence on this has really intensified recently,” said one German official, who requested anonymity.
Cui Haifeng, vice-president of Huawei in west Europe, told the Financial Times in Hamburg that the company was doing everything possible to allay concerns over security. Asked if Germany was set to issue a ban, he said: “So far, I never heard about this kind of thing.”
“[For] every technology for us at Huawei we always try to put the security and safety as top priorities so all the design, products and services will be safe,” Mr Cui said.
Raffaello Pantucci, director of international securities studies at UK think-tank RUSI
“The NCSC has concerns around a range of technical issues and has set out improvements the company must make,” a government spokesperson said. “In the UK, the conversation with regard to China has definitely shifted with the hawks becoming kind of dominant,” Mr Pantucci added.
The main US concern over Huawei equipment is that the company’s ties to the Chinese government could enable snooping or interference. Huawei has strongly denied such charges.
More generally, the US is worried about the potential application of China’s National Intelligence Law, approved in 2017, which states that Chinese “organisations and citizens shall . . . support, co-operate with and collaborate in national intelligence work”. The risk, said US officials, is that this could mean that Chinese companies overseas are called upon to engage in espionage.
https://www.ft.com/content/6719b6b2-f33d-11e8-9623-d7f9881e729f (on line sub required)
What is Huawei, and why the arrest of its CFO matters, By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business
The arrest of a top Huawei executive has roiled the business world and threatens to derail the tenuous trade truce between the United States and China. Experts are warning that what happens with Weng’s case could have huge implications for the broader US-China relationship.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/06/tech/what-is-huawei/index.html