by SALVADOR KWINIKA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE synergy between fourth generation cellular broadband (4G) network technology and 5G is helping to fuel the growth of mobile broadband in Africa.
This has been the predominant theme at the recent Huawei MBB VIP Lounge held in Cape Town.
Cao Ming, president of Huawei’s wireless network product line, discussed the latest trends in global mobile broadband technology development.
“It took less than 10 years for mobile broadband to become the norm, bringing broadband access to global users and powering a booming mobile Internet,” Ming said.
“Technology creates value and innovation is the engine of future growth. 5G has already become a key infrastructure for driving digital transformation in society as well as the healthy development of the digital economy,” Ming said.
He believes that moving towards ultra-broadband, multi-antenna, smart and power-saving technologies is the only solution for operators looking to meet the explosive demand for data traffic.
Dr. Mohamed Fouad Madkour, Huawei’s vice president of global carrier network solutions and marketing, agreed.
“Even if 5G is widely rolled out in other regions, 4G can still help develop the digital economy in Africa,” he said.
Madkour added: “4G can serve as a foundation for operators looking to extend their 5G presence.”
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Coelho Aves, Senior Wireless Director at Huawei, discussed both current developments and future trends in global 4G-5G coordination.
He noted that by 2025, despite forecasts of a 3G/4G penetration rate of over 80% in Africa, the 5G penetration rate may still be below 10%.
Aves believes it is key to ensure that 5G penetration is higher for operators using complementary frequency bands, which would help create network synergy effects in terms of spectrum, planning and network architecture.
Zoltan Miklos, General Manager of Network Planning at MTN South Africa, provided insight into how his company successfully coordinated 4G and 5G.
He said that building premium networks for digital life, providing excellent user experience and accelerating digital transformation depend on the coordination of 4G and 5G networks.
Barry Hou, President of Huawei 5G Wireless Marketing and Solutions Sales, explained how Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is booming globally and how it could be deployed in Africa.
“Africa has huge market potential for home broadband. Huawei can help African operators achieve FWA commercial success,” Hou said.
James Maitai, Director of Networks at Safaricom Kenya, said the market potential for wireless home broadband and private line services for SMEs in Kenya is huge, dozens of times larger than that for fiber to the home (FTTH). .
Fixed FWA coordination is a crucial step towards Home Broadband (HBB).
The advanced package design of 4G FWA and 5G FWA can provide 100+ Mbps connections to homes.
Giulio Cavalli, Huawei’s senior microwave expert, said microwaves are crucial to coordinating 4G and 5G.
He then noted that simplified microwaves will be the future, with full-band 10Gbps to site for 5G.
Finally, Liu Zhi, Huawei Packet Core Network Product Line Manager, introduced the high-stability core network that features fast service recovery and excellent resistance to signal storms, making it ideal for for African markets.
– CAJ News
