PRESS RELEASE: [Shenzhen, China, February 10, 2020] Huawei’s LTE & NR coordination solution achieved a major milestone with its recent successful applications on China 5G commercial networks. Field tests confirmed that this solution enabled the networks to improve 5G online rate to 100%, simultaneously delivering an average rate of 800 Mbps in the downlink, and 70 Mbps in the uplink. Notably, with NR deployed on the 2.6 GHz band (having a 100 MHz bandwidth), the average downlink rate reached 1.15 Gbps along the premium-service routes. Thanks to its outstanding performance, the 5G network deployed by Huawei has outperformed its counterparts, significantly improving user experience of 5G premium networks.

Going forward into the future, 5G network construction will be a long-period mission to proceed. As it develops, 5G will face a number of pressing challenges primarily associated with coverage, 5G online rates, cell-edge experience, and terminal power consumption. By addressing such network pain points, Huawei has successfully developed the LTE & NR coordination solution, catered for global operators seeking to pursue high quality mobile networks.

5G 100% online: 5G non-standalone (NSA) networks are still dependent on 4G anchors to provide users with high-speed services. This solution supports smart anchor selection, allowing 5G terminals to access networks from the optimal 4G anchor, which is selected according to each carriers’ coverage, load and interference on 4G networks as well as 5G coverage. This enables 5G users to enjoy up to 100% online rate in 5G covered areas, an essential guarantee of a high quality service experience.

No edge experience: In 5G NSA networks, E-UTRA-NR dual connectivity (EN-DC) is a powerful tool to aggregate both 4G and 5G data transmission capabilities, ensuring a premium experience. This solution provides enhanced EN-DC features that enable data streams to be split adaptively between 4G and 5G based on network coverage. Combined with an improved uplink coverage of the high-band NR, this results in greatly improved voice and data service experiences for cell-edge 5G users.

Coordinated power saving: This solution boasts coordinated power saving features. Based on traffic characteristics, small packets are handled on 4G networks and big packets on 5G networks, while ultimate experience is jointly ensured by both 4G and 5G networks. This allows the least power to be consumed for data transmission without any negative impact on user experience. Sleep timers are also aligned on 4G and 5G modules, ensuring a full sleep in cases where no data is to be transmitted, prolonging terminal battery life.

Smooth user experience: In areas temporarily without 5G coverage, this solution uses SuperBAND to perform unified scheduling among LTE carriers. With grid-level network models built with artificial intelligence (AI) technology, SuperBAND provides spectral efficiency forecast to enable smart carrier selection and aggregation scheduling to be implemented, ensuring the best possible experience. This means that multiple 4G carriers can be combined to offer the same high-bandwidth experience as on 5G networks, assuring consistency of 5G user experience.

As of February 2020, Huawei has signed more than 60 5G commercial networks contracts and shipped more than 400,000 modules. 27 of the 40 plus 5G commercial networks are powered by Huawei’s 5G solutions. Huawei’s LTE & NR coordination solution will play an essential role in assisting global operators with 5G commercial service rollout on top of 5G NSA architecture while delivering coordinated experiences with converged 4G and 5G construction.

As a result, 5G users can always stay online, can enjoy HD Voice and high-speed data services even in 5G cell edge area. With coordinated power saving, terminals can efficiently utilize battery power for data transmission. Furthermore, networks can continue to deliver a high-band access service even in areas where 5G is unavailable to ensure a consistent and high-quality experience. Overall, this will allow global operators to truly bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world.