PRESS RELEASE: At the 2021 Mobile World Congress (MWC 2021) in Barcelona, the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) announced the winners of the 2021 Global Mobile (GLOMO) Awards. Huawei’s BladeAAU series took home the ‘Best Mobile Network Infrastructure’ award, confirming the industry’s recognition of Huawei’s customer-driven innovation in helping operators build high-quality mobile network infrastructure with breakthrough products in the 5G era.

“Thank you to GSMA for awarding Huawei this significant award. Huawei’s groundbreaking solution BladeAAU integrates Massive MIMO AAU with full-band passive antennas in the most compact way, which enables operators to simplify sites greatly, as well as reduce TTM and TCO, making it the industry’s unique solution for large-scale commercial rollout,” said Mr. Gan Bin, the CMO of Huawei’s Wireless Network Product Line at the award ceremony.

Huawei launched the industry’s first BladeAAU product in 2019 to help operators overcome deployment challenges relating to the insufficient antenna space. By integrating a Massive MIMO AAU with a multi-band passive antenna into a single box, this product enables all sub-6 GHz bands to be deployed within the most compact dimensions the industry has ever seen, greatly easing the difficulties of network deployment. By interworking with Huawei’s SingleRAN technology, BladeAAU has enabled the implementation of Massive MIMO in single-pole scenarios.

In 2020, the BladeAAU series continued to evolve with a brand-new product — BladeAAU Pro. This new solution is the first in the industry to support 64 channels with integrated active and passive modules. It also supports a maximum transmit power of 320 W and further upgrades passive antenna port specifications to empower transition to all-band deployment over the next 10 years. Its dimensions are further reduced, adding extra flexibility for adapting to various scenarios. Since its initial launch, it has become the preferred choice for global operators targeting network construction in single-pole scenarios, and has been put into commercial use worldwide, helping operators in countries such as China, Switzerland, France, Finland, and Ireland to quickly roll out 5G services.

The Judges had this to say about the Huawei for BladeAAU series: “This stands out as a vital enabler for operators deploying 5G, ensuring support for commercially important spectrum in the years to come in a single form factor that reduces CAPEX and OPEX costs. Widescale global deployment of the product in more than thirty networks provides evidence of market momentum and broad positive impact on 5G deployment.”

Ma Hongbo, President of Huawei’s SingleRAN Product Line of Wireless Networks, said: “The BladeAAU series combines leading technologies across a variety of domains and represents the highest level in the industry. This GSMA GLOMO award reflects the industry’s recognition of its technological leadership and business value, and is a plaudit for Huawei’s persistent contributions to global 5G deployment. Huawei will continue to innovate and advance the industry technology based on customer requirements to boost the scaled rollout of 5G around the world.”

The annual GLOMO Awards were set up to recognize pioneering feats of mobile technology. Prizes are handed out in a variety of different categories, including Mobile Technology, Connected Consumer, Industry X, and Tech4Good. More than 250 independent judges from across the world are involved in the award process. The panels comprise leading industry experts, analysts, journalists, academics and in some cases representatives from mobile operators.