Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?

Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?

Key Takeaways from the Huawei MBB Global Forum 2015

11/10/2015 | 14 pages


In this Signals Flash! report we provide what we felt were the key takeaways from the Huawei Global MBB Forum 2015 that we attended last week in Hong Kong.

Huawei’s Global MBB Forum 2015 was a World Class event that brought together mobile operators from around the world as well as key players from various vertical markets (Google, Facebook, CNN, etc.).

Key highlights include the following:

What’s in a G?  We now have the term LTE-Advanced Pro to refer to Release 13 and beyond features for LTE, but given the vast range of features and Use Cases associated with 5G, we wonder when a “5G network” will really be a “5G network.”

Convergence is King.  Thanks to massive bandwidth requirements and site densification, 5G will make it far more difficult for mobile operators without strong fixed wireline assets to survive.

Split views on 5G Prioritization.  It may not matter now, but at some point in the not-too-distant future the operators will need to come together and agree on which Use Cases should be prioritized first in the 5G standardization process.

Small cells loom large.  We see operators starting to move toward small cells with some market opportunities that traditionally were addressed by Wi-Fi.

Let’s go to the Verticals.  Instead of defining the next G around a particular Use Case or technical feature, the industry is trying to build a “come one, call all” tent that meets everyone’s requirements.