Setting an industry milestone at the Ultra-Broadband Forum 2015, Huawei and its partners defined the future of the ultra-broadband era as Gigaband – a portmanteau of Gigabit and broadband.
Three factors will drive the industry into the Gigaband era. The first is socioeconomic development. In December 2014, ITU’s Connect 2020 set down the commitment of governments across the planet for broadband infrastructure baselines, broadband services, and network experience. People now understand that broadband infrastructure is the foundation of the ICT industry and every other sector.
The second factor is enterprise development needs. The reports, Made in China 2025 and Industry 4.0, both point out that traditional broadband networks are no longer enough for smart factories and smart production. A new industry-class broadband network is required, a Mission Critical Infrastructure with higher availability, reliability, and lower latency.
The third factor is new consumer demands. The video industry is evolving to 4K UHD TV. Video streaming now requires 10 times more bandwidth, people are shifting from TV broadcasts to VoD, and new service areas like smart homes are eating up bandwidth. Today, users care more about experience than connectivity, which in turn drives ICT development and network construction in the Gigaband era.
Gigaband has three key features: one, it redefines broadband speeds from 300 Mbps to 1 Gbps; two, it applies to broadband networks that deliver optimal service experiences; and, three, it’s designed to cover at least 90 percent of homes with ultra-broadband services at the best U-vMOS (Unified Video Mean Opinion Score) anytime, anywhere. U-vMOS is Huawei’s answer to precisely measuring users’ opinion of video services.
To promote Gigaband, policies must boost broadband investment, innovation, and construction, and complement these with flexible and affordable solutions that overlay new technologies on legacy networks. Carriers need to commit to building an open ecosystem and key services, such as connections and video, while partnering with app developers and VAS providers to offer comprehensive integrated ICT services.
To date, more than 100 global carriers have launched commercial Gigabit services, setting the scene for us to work together to build the Gigaband era.