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Moving towards 5G-Advanced and 6G, it will continue to see soaring data traffic and expanding mobile AI adoption, which require higher microwave transmission bandwidth yet lower latency. It is imperative for the microwave industry to update spectrum policies and device standards to unlock the potential of new technologies for building a fully-connected, intelligent world.
In September 2025, Huawei released the 2025 Microwave Industry White Paper at the fourth Global Microwave Industry Forum held in Morocco. This white paper outlines the significance and cutting-edge technologies of microwave communications for the mobile AI era from three aspects.
Diversifying mobile broadband (MBB) applications require all-weather microwave communications across all scenarios. This white paper summarizes ongoing advancements in microwave transmission capabilities, emphasizing that these improvements have enabled microwave backhaul to expand from base stations to a broad range of emerging scenarios, including optical fiber backup, FTTH backhaul, enterprise private networks, and private lines. Meanwhile, microwave communications have become an essential all-weather communication infrastructure that is still steadily operable in extreme weather conditions, complex terrains, and dense urban environments.
Microwave technologies have seen tangible breakthroughs in spectral efficiency, performance, and intelligence. The ongoing developments of 5G and 5G-Advanced are spurring the soaring increase in mobile data traffic. With an increasing amount of microwave spectrum being identified for IMT purposes, long-term improvement in spectral efficiency is the priority for microwave. This white paper compares new and legacy technologies for improving microwave spectral efficiency, including full duplex, MIMO, and co-channel interference cancellation (CCIC). According to this white paper, to realize simplification, the industry is shifting its research focus from the simple deployment of hub sites to new antenna technologies like point-to-multipoint to accommodate limited space for installing antennas at hub sites. Moreover, rapidly developing AI technologies are providing new opportunities for microwave O&M, energy saving, and traffic prediction, and several new applications have been developed to implement AI into microwave communications.
Standards and policy support is integral to developing the microwave ecosystem. This white paper points out that current spectrum policies are already falling short of the rapidly advancing microwave communication technologies, calling for faster integration of standards, technology, and implementation in advancing microwave technologies.
The microwave industry is now full of both challenges and opportunities. As James Zeng, President of Huawei Microwave Product Line, puts it, "only by pooling collaborative strength can the industry build a more solid connectivity foundation with microwave-based mobile backhaul for mobile AI."
