For tech’s future, mobile is mission-critical

Hong Kong Telecom’s CTO discusses how the operator is using mmWave for 5.5G networks and potential use cases.

About 20 or 30 mmWave base stations for 5G-advanced networks have been deployed around Causeway Bay in central Hong Kong. Do you plan to expand the mmWave network to the outskirts of the city as well?

The mmWave rollout strategy goes back to 2019, when we wanted to know the propagation or the actual physical characteristics of mmWave. So we built in the Central Business District (CBD), where we expected most traffic would originate. We’ve delivered downlink and uplink speeds that allow shopping malls to upgrade the visitor experience with new services such as AR-aided shopping, indoor navigation, and gaming, resulting in a 23% year-on-year increase in network traffic in the CBD as of year-end 2023.

As there still aren’t any mmWave handsets launched, the traffic potentially raised by devices is not there. Hong Kong isn’t just a big city. We have rural villages, too, some with only eight to 10 people. A lot of traffic comes from the outskirts of Hong Kong. In the past, residents there didn’t have fiber-based broadband service, as it wasn’t economically feasible. They needed a better experience, which HKT can provide with mmWave-powered 5G FWA. Since the technology was deployed earlier this year, the download speed for users has gone from 100Mbps to 1Gbps. That's a 10x improvement.

MILLIMETER WAVE

We understand that compared with other bands, the ecosystem devices for millimeter wave are underdeveloped. How do you foresee that situation changing?

Millimeter wave rollout depends on demand. I would say the market is starting to mobilize in this region. In this phase of millimeter wave rollout, we will focus on the CPE (customer premises equipment) market. As I said earlier, for rural areas where we don’t have sufficient fiber resources, if we want to provide good broadband service, we will use FWA; and then, we'll make use of the millimeter wave CPE to help carry FWA traffic. So that is already very good service for the broadband customer.

Also, there are other applications, such as video cameras. When a TV channel covers an event, such as the Olympic Games, they can broadcast live without interruption. Also, smart campuses – hospitals, universities, office complexes – are congested environments that need good communications. So there will be plenty of “2B” applications coming soon.

Also, because some locations lack fiber, we sometimes use mmWave to provide backhaul to provide transmission diversity, enhance network resilience, and reduce the investment costs of network deployment.

5.5G DETERMINISTIC NETWORKS

The Victoria Harbor Fireworks Show in October 2023 was captured on video by eight drones equipped with cameras using a mmWave network. What other situations might 5.5G be helpful for?

5.5G will be great for supporting mega-events, such as music concerts or football matches that take place in congested locations. Every year, Hong Kong has more than 100 mega-events. After the pandemic, we started holding events again, and found that people had changed to 5G. That was a challenge for us. Before the pandemic they were using 4G; now it’s 5G.

Their applications are also different than before. Now, uplink capacity is crucial for livestreaming. This is totally different compared with 2019. People are using their phones for different kinds of services – ordering food, and social shopping. Life is busier than five years ago, and they use their phone a lot more. So the traffic patterns totally changed. 

In the past year, we found that we had to make use of something we call deterministic experience service. This means we set aside some spectrum, and only let in people who are willing to pay more for better service. This can be better realized with the 5G Advanced slicing service in future.  

Now with 5G-enabled differentiated services, two types of people want it. One is VIPs, about 1,000 of whom already subscribe to a premium 5G service plan. They’re mainly CXOs in the corporate market. Once those VIPs book their concert tickets, there will enjoy an onsite high-speed, exclusive experience in the stadium.

The second type of customer is an ad hoc user, meaning you can either pre-order an add-on acceleration bundle or buy on-site if there are still tickets available. It most often happens when you suddenly find that you can’t use your current service smoothly because of network congestion onsite, so you decide to pay for some additional bundles to get access. But again, tickets to a premium speed experience are limited. And you enjoy the service for a defined time period.

PASSIVE IoT

Let’s talk about Passive IoT. We mostly hear it talked about in connection with warehouse management.

Stock management in warehouses is one use case, sure. But also, in a hospital, when you need to track the whereabouts of patients, instead of a wristband – which can’t tell where you are – you could use a sensor. If the patient leaves the room, or leaves the hospital, it can alert the staff.

And hospitals need stock management, too. There are surgical instruments, and medical equipment. Maybe there’s an emergency and you need a particular machine, but in a big hospital, you’re not sure where it is. A Passive IoT tag will know.

Supermarkets are another use case. Right now, people queue up to scan a code to pay for their purchases. But if all the goods on the shelves have a Passive IoT tag, you won’t need to scan anything. Maybe there’s a Passive IoT cart; you can put all your things in it and they’ll be scanned automatically.

Or toll roads. On a highway, you can drive past a toll booth and be charged automatically. In cities with congestion pricing – where you pay extra to use a busy downtown street – this will be much more convenient. As long as we have mobile coverage, all of this will work. 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Let’s talk about AI. Does HKT plan to offer new services based on a higher level of network intelligence?

There are some AI applications out there – generative AI, for example. It won’t generate much revenue for us, but it creates a lot of traffic. HKT has begun selling AI training services for SMEs, mainly for customer-service chatbots that sell services to the SMEs’ end customers. Again, this doesn’t generate much revenue for us. In the future, we need to think about how use AI agents to create new ecosystems.

What about AR shopping? Any plans for that?

We already have shopping coupons. We send them to your phone and you can activate them and use them at the mall. We have a lot of customer data, so we can personalize the coupons more in the future – maybe having your favorite movie star encourage you to buy a bag – that kind of thing.

It’s a type of direct marketing. AR, VR, and every aspect of the shopping experience will be interlinked to stimulate shoppers’ interest. AI agents could play a role in this. One or two big companies will probably help people do the modeling. This will be a new industry.  

We’re just at the beginning of this new era. In the future, AI will be native: it will be inside the mobile devices, and inside the networks. I will just touch my screen and I’ll be getting help from AI.

How does that fit in with 5G-Advanced networks?

It's like the internet. The internet is in your phone, right? It's a basic function these days; you need it to survive. In the future, all your devices will come with advanced mobile communication capability, with AI, with internet, with sensing. All these things and more will be available.

And that will require 5G-Advanced networks that are faster, with lower delay, and so on?

Exactly. All of this will place great demands on the network. And it’s all got to be mobile.

That’s a crucial point: mobile tech will enable the future growth of all industries. People can’t live without it. Mobile has a critical mission: to keep improving its capability, speed, latency, communication capability. Without such progress in mobile, everything will grind to a halt.