IT Times reporter Sun Yan
During the 2024 Mobile World Congress (MWCS2024) in Shanghai, the Hetao International Industry and Standards Organization Cluster (hereinafter referred to as the "Hetao Cluster"), the first and only international industry and standards organization gathering area in China, made its collective debut for the first time.
Inaugurated in January 2024, the Loop is located in the Shenzhen Park of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Co-operation Zone in the Loop, which is adjacent to Hong Kong, China. In this exhibition, the Hetao agglomeration area for the first time completely displayed the "1+6" international organizations and service organizations, "1" represents the Comentropy Industry and Standards Innovation Service Center (Comentropy), "6" represents the World Wireless LAN Application Development Alliance (WAA), the International Starlight Wireless Short Range Communication Alliance (SA), the World UHD Video Industry Alliance (UWA), the Global Computing Alliance (GCC), Global Alliance for the Intelligent Internet of Things (GIIC) and Global Alliance for Fixed Network Innovation (NIDA).
Up to now, the international industry and standards alliances in the Hetao agglomeration area have formulated 130 standards, published 23 white papers, tested and certified 211 products, and developed 1,643 members. It will play a radiating role of "based on the Hetao and facing the world", and drive the standard innovation and industrial development in related connection fields.
Zhang Gang, former counselor of the State Council and deputy director of the China Standardization Expert Committee, said that at this exhibition, the Hetao agglomeration area issued a joint initiative for international industrial organizations to cooperate and promote the signing of a series of international industrial organizations, and launched the process of mutual trust and mutual recognition of international standards and testing and certification. These marks a solid step forward in promoting global industrial cooperation and building a new system of open economy.
As one of the members, the World Wireless LAN Application Development Alliance (WAA) signed a contract with the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) to jointly promote the process of international standardization and internationalization of standards, and explore new growth drivers for the WLAN industry.
IT Times interviewed Tiago Rodrigues, President and CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), about the progress of Wi-Fi 7 and OpenRoaming deployments, and the importance of China's participation in global standardization efforts.
The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) announced the latest progress of Wi-Fi 7, with nearly 300 million Wi-Fi 7 devices in the world, and this year will be a year for businesses and households to rapidly migrate to Wi-Fi 7, and it is expected that by the end of 2024, the number of Wi-Fi 7 devices worldwide will increase to more than 1 billion.
IT Times: What are the main areas of standardization that the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) is currently focusing on?
Tiago Rodrigues: The WBA focuses on four main areas of standardization: first, the convergence of Wi-Fi and cellular networks, which guarantees Wi-Fi security and data privacy through the OpenRoaming standard; The second is to accelerate the development of Wi-Fi 7; The third is to promote new technologies such as Wi-Fi sensing and Wi-Fi HaLow Internet of Things technology; The fourth is to expand the OpenRoaming project.
IT Times: At the MWCS2024 forum, you put forward the idea of connecting the digital world with global standards, what are the phenomena and considerations based on?
Tiago Rodrigues: Digital connectivity has become fundamental to our society, and the push for global standards will reduce the cost of products and services. To date, there are more than 21 billion Wi-Fi devices in the world, with 4 billion new devices added every year, which is a typical example of standardization accelerating wireless connectivity.
Unfortunately, there is no global standard for electric plugs, and China, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Portugal all have different standards, which complicates our lives, and if we only have one standard, it will be much simpler.
In Europe, different countries have different sizes of underground tracks, and when the train arrives at the border, passengers have to get off the train and change to another train, a problem that has plagued my grandparents since their generation.
IT Times: How is the global Wi-Fi 7 deployment progressing?
Tiago Rodrigues: With nearly 300 million Wi-Fi 7 devices in the world, this year will be a year of rapid migration to Wi-Fi 7 for businesses and homes, with more than 1 billion Wi-Fi 7 devices expected to grow globally by the end of 2024. We have high hopes for Wi-Fi 7, which will bring more spectrum and higher technical performance, and we have already conducted tests in 12 countries and regions with 12 major local operators, such as LGU+ in South Korea, KDDI in Japan, AT&T in the United States, etc.
IT Times: What areas of standardization will the cooperation between WBA and WAA promote?
Tiago Rodrigues: We want to push forward some demonstration projects in the Asia-Pacific region, such as OpenRoaming, where users only need a real-name authentication account to connect to any free Wi-Fi that joins OpenRoaming, which is currently available on Samsung devices and in many cities in Japan. As you can see, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and other cities in Japan have been opened, and whether you go to a hospital, university, park, or library, it will automatically connect to the available Wi-Fi. And when you come to another country or region that supports OpenRoaming, you can also authorize an account registered in Japan to connect.
IT Times: Huawei's Wi-Fi 7 won the 2023 WBA Best Enterprise Network Award, to a certain extent, does it also represent China's improvement in the standard voice in the field of wireless broadband?
Tiago Rodrigues: Huawei has a good reputation in the Wi-Fi enterprise market, and their Wi-Fi 7 project on university campuses has been well received by the judges. Wi-Fi plays a fundamental role in the development of broadband in China, and the participation in standardization bodies is increasing, which is crucial to promoting the coordinated development of world standards.
IT Times: What else does China need to improve on the way to global standards?
Tiago Rodrigues: Chinese consumers make up a large part of the world's population and need to have a voice when it comes to setting different standards. On the one hand, China's important enterprises, such as China Telecom, China Mobile, Huawei, ZTE and other enterprises, will participate in global standardization work; On the other hand, it is necessary to set up industry associations such as the Hetao agglomeration area to explore the internationalization of standards.
IT Times: There are still 2.6 billion people in the world who are "offline" and cannot use or cannot afford to use the Internet.
Tiago Rodrigues: This is a big problem that the whole world needs to solve as much as possible, but it's not easy, and the WBA has an initiative called "Connecting Hope" to enable better and cheaper connectivity through Wi-Fi standards. We believe that Wi-Fi is the most cost-effective solution, and in some remote villages in India, where there is no internet connection at all, our members have come together to cover unconnected areas by converting satellite signals into Wi-Fi.