- ZTE touted its 5G-Advanced RF sensing capabilities
- Ambient is the word to know
- But not many operators haven't deployed 5G SA and thus can't use the 5G-A spec yet
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS, BARCELONA – Chinese network vendor ZTE used the MWC telco jamboree to show off its 5G-Advanced chops with leading domestic network operator China Mobile.
As AvidThink analyst Roy Chua predicted back in June 2024, Chinese vendors were first off the blocks with the domestic products using the 5G-Advanced (5G-A) spec. China Mobile is showing off ambient IoT – a concept that involves connecting many low-power devices to a wireless sensor network – as well as showing off sensing at the show.
Sensing uses the RF network to detect changes in the ambient – there’s that word again! – environment. Detecting changes in an environment has typically been the job of external cameras and other devices.
Yi Ding, product planning director at ZTE, said that ZTE has been working with China Mobile for “about a year” on 5G-A. And of course, you need to have 5G standalone (SA) in order to deploy 5G-A. ZTE is providing the operator with infrastructure - like base stations - as well as its domestic rival Huawei, the largest telecom vendor in the world.
“It’s about 50/50,” Ding said.
ZTE itself is no slouch in the global infrastructure vendor race. Dell’Oro Group ranks them as fourth-placed RAN provider after Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia, but ahead of Samsung. There is no American vendor in the top five, despite the Trump regime’s dreams of a proud American 5G radio vendor. Gonna have to buy one if that’s going to happen!
China Mobile’s emphasis on sensing and ambient IoT shows its dedication to digital industrialization. Of course, China started ahead of the rest of the world with the government mandating that operators move to pure 5G SA as soon as possible.
Ericsson told me at this show that there are currently around 61 operators that have deployed 5G SA, out of a possible 329 networks globally. T-Mobile US was the first in the world in 2020, but the Chinese operators swiftly followed that year with 5G SA.
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