Huawei Executive Director of the Board David Wang: Moving Towards the F5G Era Together

[Shenzhen, China, May 19, 2020] At the 17th Huawei Global Analyst Summit (HAS), Huawei Executive Director of the Board David Wang launched the Fifth Generation Fixed Network (F5G) industry initiative. Through this initiative, Huawei is inviting global fixed network industry players, including both upstream and downstream companies, to join the F5G industry organization. This initiative aims to drive a thriving fixed network industry, and move humanity towards the F5G era. Joining Wang at the launch were Wei Leping, Director of China Telecom's Technology Commission; ETSI ISG F5G Chairman Luca Pesando; Ao Li, Deputy Secretary General of the China Broadband Development Alliance; and Altice Portugal CTO Luis Alveirinho. Wang also delivered a keynote speech titled Moving Towards the F5G Era Together.

Fixed networks are the foundation of the digital world, and make a real difference to people's work and life

Over the past few months, in China alone, nearly 18 million employees worked remotely from their homes. 230 million students studied at home, and 12 million people a day saw a doctor online. Apart from a place for living, the home has now become a productivity center that offers the same functions as schools, hospitals, offices, and theatres. Home broadband has been key to enabling homes to serve these functions.

Broadband networks are playing an increasingly important role in advancing society and the economy. The World Bank's study found that a 10% increase in broadband penetration would increase GDP growth by 1.38% on average. According to the White Paper on Development and Employment in China's Digital Economy (2019), China's 180 million kilometers of optical fiber supports a digital economy worth 31.3 trillion yuan. Other countries like the UK, Portugal, Spain, and France are actively rolling out their all-optical network strategy to boost high-quality economic development.

As an operator of broadband networks, major global telecom carriers are actively deploying gigabit broadband and 5G networks, and extending broadband networks from homes to enterprises. Leading carriers in China, Europe, and Asia Pacific have launched high-quality private line services over all-optical networks. This has accelerated the digital transformation of government, finance, healthcare, and other sectors. The social and economic value of broadband and private lines is being pushed even further.

A healthier ecosystem is required to address the fragmentation of the fixed network industry

Like the wireless network industry, the fixed network industry started evolving from the analog age back in 1980, and has continued to evolve for the last 40 years.

Five generations of evolution have seen wireless networks move from fragmentation to inclusion. In the analog age, there were eight incompatible technology standards for wireless. With 5G, wireless has now converged on one unified standard. Countries around the world are exploring 5G 2B use cases, and over 300 such projects have been launched. So far, the global wireless network industry has fostered a diverse ecosystem.

However, today in the fixed network industry, many standards organizations exist, such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Broadband Forum (BBF), and Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF). These organizations lack coordination, and various types of transmission media exist at the same time. The evolution from one generation to the next is not clear cut, and scattered investment has made it difficult to achieve an economy of scale. All of these have led to a huge gap between fixed and wireless networks in terms of the maturity of applications and ecosystem.

There is no denying that the fixed network industry has achieved excellent results over four decades of development. However, if fixed network standards and ecosystem can be as unified and prosperous as wireless networks, then the scale of the industry and its role in the global economy will grow several fold.

The ETSI launched the Industry Specification Group (ISG) F5G this February. Huawei believes that this will be a key milestone on the road towards a thriving fixed network industry, and usher in a brand-new era.

Huawei's Intelligent OptiX Network strategy enables a thriving industry

The ETSI has turned the paradigm of Fiber to the Home paradigm into Fiber to Everything Everywhere, and has defined three major F5G use cases: full-fiber connection (FFC), enhanced fixed broadband (eFBB), and guaranteed reliable experience (GRE). This new vision indicates the direction the fixed network industry is taking.

As a key player in the global fixed network industry, Huawei will embrace the F5G era and become an explorer and industry enabler. Specifically, Huawei will contribute to ETSI's standards development for fixed networks, and promote the commercial use of F5G innovations in the optical transport and optical access domains.

Huawei believes F5G use cases should be implemented from three dimensions: high bandwidth, inspired experiences, and all-optical connectivity. In terms of high bandwidth, the aim is to connect households to gigabit networks, buildings to 10 gigabit networks, and campuses to terabit networks. Inspired experiences include millisecond-level latency, 0 packet loss, and five nines availability. All-optical connectivity means extending fiber to every room, desk, and machine to connect hundreds of thousands of objects every square kilometer.

Huawei has proposed the Intelligent OptiX Network strategy, which is specifically oriented towards the F5G era, and has launched innovative technologies and products, such as 10G PON, Wi-Fi 6, eAI ONT, 200G and 400G, and Liquid OTN. The company has been committed to innovating in optical transport, access, data center, and campus domains.

Huawei invites industry players to embrace F5G and open a new chapter in the history of fixed networks

Moving forward, 5G and F5G will complement each other and create synergy to become the foundation for a fully connected, intelligent world. Huawei will maintain its strategic investments in both fixed and wireless networks, and help carrier and enterprise customers build ubiquitous connectivity through innovative solutions. We will continue to explore new use cases to drive a thriving fixed network industry, and make greater contributions to the industry.

We invite all global players across the fixed network industry to embrace the F5G era. Together, we will open a new chapter in the history of fixed networks, and realize our shared vision of fiber to everything everywhere.