Major wireless network technology event sees release of report redefining the digital divide, launches of milestone LTE-A networks, and unveiling of 5G technology vision
[London, UK, November 6, 2013]: Huawei, a leading global information and communication technology (ICT) solutions provider, today successfully concluded its two-day 2013 Global Mobile Broadband (MBB) Forum in London.
Supported by the GSMA, the event attracted hundreds of top leaders and representatives from major global mobile operators, regulatory agencies, industry analyst firms, chipset and device manufacturers, mobile content providers, major mobile service companies and more to discuss the future developments in MBB, LTE growth, eliminating the digital divide, and new mobile business collaboration among other topics.
This is the fourth consecutive year the event has been held after previous successful Forums in Oslo, Berlin and Vancouver. The theme of this year’s event was “Inspiring Innovation with MBB” and was explored in terms of how MBB impacts digital decisions, business collaboration, and approaches to providing infinite connectivity all over the world, in all MBB markets.
Leading UK mobile operator EE and major Middle East operator Zain Kuwait both used the 2013 Global MBB Forum as a platform to announce the launch of LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) networks in their local respective markets. Both networks will deliver MBB speeds of up to 300 Mb/s.
LTE-A significantly enhances LTE network speeds and capacity with breakthrough technologies like Carrier Aggregation (CA), which allows for the full utilization of spectrum resources across multiple frequency bands. In addition to enabling higher bandwidth, CA ensures backwards compatibility with LTE to facilitate a smooth, seamless migration.
Day one of the event saw the release of a “Redefining the Digital Divide” report authored by the Economist Intelligence Unit concluding that the digital divide is no longer about a lack of network infrastructure, but about the capability among citizens and businesses to use ICT tools to enhance one’s own socio-economic situation.
The release was immediately followed by a panel discussion on the report’s findings. Later in the day, representatives from major mobile service companies (including Google, LinkedIn and YouTube) and leading digital marketing firms debated the merits of new digital marketing business models for the mobile space.
Day two saw numerous MBB technologies presentations from leading global operators, and concluded with two parallel technical tracks – “MBB Evolution” and “MBB Experience.” During the MBB Evolution track, Huawei officially released a white paper outlining its comprehensive technology vision for 5G.
In his welcoming keynote on day one, Eric Xu, Huawei rotating CEO, announced substantial investments in 5G technology and also said: “In the future, our digital and physical worlds will become even more intertwined, which will create a connected world of infinite possibilities. Today we see a gap in people using ICT technologies and leveraging their value. The digital divide is therefore no longer about whether or not people have access to the network.”
“If we redefine the digital divide to reflect this reality,” he added, “we can begin to work to address it. We believe providing broadband to everyone while enriching content and applications through the continuous development of broadband technologies will be the key to bridging this new digital divide.”
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