5G-A, a spring full of energy

Image source@Visual China

Text | Brain polar body

Time flies, and suddenly 2024 has come to us. After the explosion of global AI technology in 2023, as well as key progress in many fields such as smart cars, virtual reality, and autonomous technology. Presumably, you want to know what tech growth space is worth looking forward to in the new year.

If so, then look to 5G-A.

Compared to the more uncertainties in other technology sectors, the explosion of mobile communications in 2024 is a foregone conclusion. From the perspective of mobile communication standards, 3GPP will freeze the R18 version in 2024. This also means that 5G-Advanced, or 5.5G, which goes beyond 5G, will officially become the global standard. From the perspective of commercial cycle, 2024 is the fifth year of China's 5G commercial use, which is also in line with the small iteration trend of intergenerational enhancement of mobile communication networks in five years under the general trend of intergenerational change in ten years. From the perspective of application capabilities, 5G-A not only enhances the three major features of 5G network eMBB, mMTC and uRLLC, realizing a tenfold improvement in the network from gigabit to 10 gigabit, but also brings innovative network capabilities such as synaesthesia, passive IoT, and endogenous intelligence, comprehensively enhancing the application scope of 5G network.

In our view, the 5G-A is ready to go in 2024, which can be imagined as a spring that has been fully charged. It not only has the spring shrinkage pressure brought by global operators to seize the opportunity, but also the spring ejection direction of a large number of intelligent scenarios and application traction. At the same time, 2024 will inevitably promote the rapid development of 5G-A, which is like a spring to a certain node will inevitably be launched.

We can see the sudden leap of 5G-A in the New Year from several directions.

The energy gathering of springs: the world is competing for 5G-A match points

5G-A is bound to develop rapidly in 2024, and one of the core driving forces comes from the support and recognition of 5G-A by countries and regions around the world, which in turn leads operators to implement the strategy of rapid construction and active deployment of 5G-A.

During the 14th Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF) held in Dubai in October 2023, 13 operators around the world jointly released the first wave of 5G-A networks, marking that 5G-A has officially entered a new stage of commercial deployment from technical verification. In all regions of the world, especially in areas where 5G network construction is fast and the development of the digital economy is strong, 5G-A network construction has been started.

For example, in the Middle East, we can see that the deployment of 5G-A networks has been fully launched. Operators in the Middle East have carried out a series of actions, including 5G-A testing and 5G-A network construction planning for the next 3 to 5 years. The second phase of the UAE 5G-A pilot project has been successful, with Saudi operator Zain KSA releasing a series of 5G-A network progress, and UAE operator du releasing the world's first 5G-A Villa demonstration site.

In Europe, in September 2023, Deutsche Telekom announced that it would superimpose 400MHz 6GHz spectrum on the basis of the commercial 3.6GHz spectrum to achieve a downlink peak rate of more than 12Gbps, in fact, starting the construction of 5G-A networks. Finnish carrier DNA has demonstrated the application of 5G-A technology based on the live network, which will achieve network speeds of more than 10Gbps. At the same time, DNA also demonstrated the application of passive IoT through mobile networks. It is an undoubted development trend that European operators will fully start the acceleration of 5G-A network construction in 2024.

If we look back at China, we will find that operators have launched a series of 5G-A pilot projects in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai and other places, fully verifying the diversification and real-life value of their key technologies and industrial values. In the previous "Village BA" event, Guizhou Mobile and Huawei completed the deployment of 2.6G 160M and 4.9G 100M 3-carrier aggregation 5G-A networks in the "Village BA" basketball event.

It can be seen that from the Middle East to Europe, from East Asia to Southeast Asia, global operators have pressed the acceleration button for 5G-A construction. Competing for 5G-A first-mover advantage has become a top priority for operators in 2024. This spring of 5G-A, driven by this sense of urgency, continues to accumulate more energy.

The launch target of the spring: 5G-A is brewing an intelligent chain reaction

A spring that accumulates energy must have a goal to release energy at the end, and the same is true for 5G-A. As we know, 5G networks have opened up a new industrial space for 5GtoB and helped global operators enter a new track of industrial digitalization. In the next step, 5G-A will comprehensively broaden this track and have a chain reaction with the booming intelligent technology.

This effect can be clearly seen in the current pilot 5G-A projects. In Xiamen, Fujian Mobile conducted the world's first "5G-A Synaesthesia Integrated Low-altitude Collaborative Networking" pilot.

In this pilot, for the urban low-altitude mobile communication scenario, the continuous networking and inter-station collaboration of the 5G-A synaesthesia integrated base station were adopted to carry out multi-target detection, continuous tracking and reporting of the complete track of UAV across stations and cells, as well as protection and early warning over key sections of the marathon. The characteristics of 5G-A, such as uplink and downlink ultra-broadband, are comprehensively tested, which can bring network support effects to the development of low-altitude economy.

As one of the highly anticipated strategic emerging industries, the low-altitude economy has developed rapidly in recent years. It can drive the development of a series of related industries, such as digital agriculture, air broadcasting, air Chinese tourism, high-dimensional freight, etc. As a strategic opportunity that is highly dependent on digital technology and communication energy, the low-altitude economy requires a series of 5G-A related features as a guarantee. The successful verification of 5G-A in low-altitude scenarios will effectively define the role that operators can play in the development of low-altitude economy in the future. There are many similar examples, in the fields of glasses-free 3D, marine digitalization, high-level vehicle-road collaboration, commercial deployment of autonomous driving, and industrial digitalization, there have been news that operators have completed various 5G-A commercial verifications. It can be seen that 5G-A will open up a series of intelligent opportunities and expand the business territory of operators.

In addition, 5G-A will also be combined with other technologies and industries in time to form synergies and resonances between technologies. For example, large-scale models and autonomous driving will be synchronized with the construction and development of 5G-A at high frequencies, thus generating greater value imagination. For example, the 5G-A vehicle-road collaboration network with ultra-high bandwidth, ultra-low latency, and ultra-large-scale connectivity capabilities is likely to support the rapid development of autonomous driving, thereby accelerating the overall commercialization process of intelligent transportation.

If 5G has enabled operators to complete the transformation of business value from consumers to industries, then 5G-A may bring about a chain fission of two to five and two to ten.

Pushing back the 5G-A network construction cycle with the commercial value of future intelligent development is one of the top priorities of global operators at this stage.

Spring's Flashpoint: What Nodes Are Worth Paying Attention to in 5G-A in 2024?

Driven by the urgency of network construction and driven by the value of intelligence, 5G-A will usher in a concentrated explosion period in 2024. At present, preparations on the terminal side have begun. Qualcomm, MediaTek and other chip manufacturers have released the commercial path of 5G-A terminal chips. Overall, the 5G-A industry ecosystem will mature in 2024.

So, what are the key opportunities for 5G-A worth paying attention to this year?

First of all, the network construction capability is fully mature. At the 14th Global Mobile Broadband Forum, Huawei unveiled the industry's first full-range 5G-A solutions, including TDD, FDD, mmWave, DIS, antennas, and microwave MAGICSwave, all of which are compatible with 5.5G base station networks.

On this basis, Huawei is expected to release a full set of 5G-A network equipment for commercial use in 2024, so as to promote 5G-A to the stage of large-scale commercial deployment. This means that the 5G-A network construction capability will be fully mature this year, and operators will focus from pilot experiments to large-scale network construction.

The second is the transformation of the end market. In 2023, the global smart terminal market will pick up on a large scale. New technologies such as device-side AI and folding screens have promoted a new round of enthusiasm for machine replacement. In 2024, chips and modules that support 5G-A networks will be commercialized, and seizing the maturity of 5G-A and launching device-side products with it as a highlight will become a strategic opportunity for terminal manufacturers.

Another point worth noting is to build intelligent scenarios based on 5G-A that can be commercialized on a large scale. Especially in the new round of intelligent boom brought about by AI large models, the convergence of 5G-A, AI technology and autonomous driving technology can undoubtedly arouse strong resonance between the industrial space and the financial market.

Perfect network construction solutions, new terminal products, and creative intelligent scenarios will outline the diversified flashpoints of 5G-A in 2024.

A new era of mobile communications, which is stronger, faster, and more distant than 5G, will complete its leap into the times.