Huawei’s Sabrina Meng: Building up integrated capabilities and taking 5G to the next level

Huawei’s Sabrina Meng: Building up integrated capabilities and taking 5G to the next level
At the opening day of MWC Shanghai 2023 today, Sabrina Meng, Huawei’s Rotating Chairwoman and CFO, gave a keynote outlining the value that 5G has generated throughout its first four years of commercial use.
“5G is already well on its way to driving business success,” said Meng. “It’s transforming consumer markets and industries, and already creating tremendous economic, industrial, and social value.”
She then spoke about 5.5G, the next stage in 5G’s evolution, where it will play a greater role in the digital transformation of industries. Meng concluded her speech by looking to the future of communications, stressing the importance of developing more integrated capabilities.
Sabrina Meng speaking at MWC Shanghai 2023

5G is creating value along three different fronts
For consumers, 5G, cloud, and AI have caused a series of chain reactions, creating an environment where all buyers can also be sellers.
“For industries,” said Meng, “5G has become a new driver of productivity. There’s greater alignment than ever between technology suppliers, their partners, and customers on where 5G can provide the most value.” She went on to explain how strategic patience, in-depth understanding of industrial scenarios, and ongoing improvements to ROI have given 5G a foothold in domains like mining, ports, and manufacturing.
In other forms of value creation, 5G has led to the emergence of new devices and applications that deliver a more immersive experience, like 5G New Calling and naked-eye 3D. 5G is also ushering in a new era of super-connectivity between things, bringing new strength to IoT networks and driving new forms of productivity.
“5.5G is the next step forward for 5G,” said Meng, speaking about the ongoing evolution of 5G technology. “5.5G will feature 10-gigabit download speeds, gigabit upload speeds, the ability to support 100 billion connections, and native AI. It will not only connect people better – it will also create incredible new business opportunities with more targeted support for industrial needs in domains like IoT, sensing, and advanced manufacturing.”

Taking 5G to the next level and paving the way for ongoing success
The commercial deployment of 5G has created a growing appetite for more groundbreaking, leapfrog innovation. So what will take 5G to the next level, and how will it provide greater value in different vertical markets?
“This will require finding the right technology for different scenarios and performing more comprehensive systems engineering,” said Meng. “We’ll have to dive deeper into industrial scenarios, truly understand customers’ pain points, and adopt a more holistic systems engineering mindset.”
“The industry has to work more closely together both up and down the value chain – with peers and partners, customers and developers – on solution modeling and optimization, as well as tools and methodologies,” she continued. “We need to pave the way for ongoing success throughout the entire product lifecycle, from R&D and procurement, to supply and marketing.”

Building up integrated capabilities and exploring the future of communications
Developing integrated systems capabilities is not only critical to 5G. It’s also essential as the industry explores the future of communications.
Meng spoke about two specific types of integrated capabilities. “The first is integrating different technologies. We need to drive greater synergy across cloud, networks, edge, and devices. We also need to hone competitiveness through optimization across software, hardware, chips, and algorithms.”
“The second,” she continued, “is the ability to integrate different approaches to management. This means embracing digital and intelligent transformation, applying strategic thinking to drive this transformation, and redefining relationships between people, events, things, and theory. We need a more open, forward-looking approach to management to address challenges of the future.”
Meng concluded: “Every breakthrough in science and technology uncovers a brand-new world. We can only begin to imagine what the future holds.”

MWC Shanghai 2023 runs from June 28 to June 30 in Shanghai, China. Huawei will showcase its products and solutions at stands E10 and E50 in Hall N1 of Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). Together with global operators, industry professionals, and opinion leaders, we dive into topics such as speeding up 5G prosperity, striding towards the 5.5G era, and intelligent digital transformation. 5.5G creates new business value in areas like connecting people, Internet of Things (IoT), and Internet of Vehicles (IoV), supporting countless industries as they move towards an intelligent world. For more information, please visit: https://carrier.huawei.com/en/events/mwcs2023.