Huawei details 5.5G ‘multipath’ strategy

Huawei provided further details on its 5.5G roadmap at the Mobile World Congress. A key theme is that 5.5G preparations will need to reflect specific regional trends, largely correlating with each market’s use of 5G spectrum.

For example, Huawei says time duplex division deployment is a key enabler and could also be bolted onto frequency duplex division, furthering network capacity for multi-band 5.5G transmissions. Huawei is also citing extremely large antenna arrays (ELAA) for spectral efficiency gains. Multi-band serving cell and flexible spectrum access will lead to a consistent service experience across user devices and IoT-oriented fleets, Huawei suggested.

Crucially, these advancements can be combined with 5G mmWave or upper GHz bands in markets where this spectrum is widely available. This would lay the basis for enhanced 5.5G-grade mobile broadband enabling operators to promote service package upselling based on the faster speeds, while also driving scale up of 5G fixed wireless access.

The roadmap was presented at Huawei’s so-called 5.5G Industry Summit in Barcelona, highlighting its launch window for 5.5G product sales later this year.

John Gao, president of Huawei’s 5.5G Domain, took to the stage to provide the industry with an overview of Huawei’s plans. In addition, Huawei invited GSMA to present its white paper on 5.5G and 5G-Advanced services, which agreed that first-wave deployments will start later this year. GSMA’s report, entitled ‘5G-Advanced: Shaping the future of operator services’, predicts better speeds, mobility and coverage in 5G’s next phase.