Huawei and Vodafone announce strategic partnership on 5G Technologies

[London, UK, February 18, 2016] Vodafone Group is partnering with Huawei and a number of other partners to research 5G technologies and prepare its networks for a transition towards the new mobile standard.

5G will be the next generation of mobile technology, which the International Telecoms Union expects to be formally defined by 2020. As part of the global research effort to develop 5G, Huawei and Vodafone will work together to define industry standards, establish technical guidelines and prepare product roadmaps. Specifically, Vodafone and its partners will:

• evaluate which 5G technologies will be introduced as industry standards;
• test hardware and software in Vodafone Group’s UK Innovation Labs;
• conduct trials on Vodafone’s radio and core networks in selected global markets;
• test and evaluate a wide range of 5G technologies and services;
• prioritise the benefits of 5G that can be brought to market by 2020.

Researchers predict that 5G will help deliver a new wave of innovation in digital networks, which will benefit both consumers and a wide range of industries. 5G networks have the potential to:

• significantly reduce latency;
• allow ultra-fast download and upload speeds;
• improve spectral efficiency and network reliability;
• substantially increase the number of devices that can simultaneously connect to the network, supporting the development of the internet of things.

Johan Wibergh, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Group, said:

“The telecoms industry is still establishing what technology will deliver the benefits we expect from 5G, so it is important to establish dedicated research programmes with these leading global companies. We expect 5G to radically enhance the speed, resilience and intelligence of mobile networks, enabling Vodafone customers to remain confidently connected as their usage of mobile data increases.”

Eric Xu, Rotating CEO of Huawei, said:

“5G carries the historical mission for another decade of mobile industry evolution into the 2020s. There are two main development directions - continuing to enhance the mobile internet user experience, as well as supporting and developing the internet of things for vertical industries. Although 5G will create enormous opportunities, we face many technical and business challenges. I believe that continuous technology innovation and open collaboration are the key to overcome the challenges successfully. Huawei will continue to make strategic investments in 5G technology research and industrialisation. At the same time, I look forward and believe that collaboration between Huawei, Vodafone and other industry partners will make important contributions to the industrial development of 5G.”

Notes to Editors

Huawei and Vodafone will jointly hold a 5G demonstration at Mobile World Congress 2016. This will combine two of the most important elements of 5G together for the first time, specifically Edge Cloud Computing and ultra low latency in air interface design. Visitors to Vodafone’s booth will be able to participate in real time activities which highlight the user experience improvement and application performance gains coming from the reduced latency delivered by these network technologies.