Dubai’s ‘smart villa’: Huawei and du unveil world’s first 5G-A equipped standalone home

At the Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF) 2023, Huawei, a global technology company, and du, a part of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), introduced the world’s first 5G Advanced (5G-A) demonstration villa.

This smart home of the future operates on a 10Gbps network, showcasing their joint innovation in 5G technology.

Earlier this year, Huawei and du entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) focused on 5.5G and 5G-A technological advancements, application exploration, and ecosystem development.

The unveiling of the 5G-A Villa represents an achievement for this collaborative partnership.

5G-A villa

The 5G-A villa shows the seamless integration of cutting-edge technologies, providing a unique smart home experience enriched with features such as naked-eye 3D and extended reality (XR).

As consumer expectations for superior experiences grow, the demand for network capabilities and content evolution rises, prompting carriers to enhance their home networks to a remarkable 10Gbps.

Fahad Al Hassawi, CEO of du, said, “From the outset of the 5G era, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) has been a transformative catalyst, enabling us to offer cutting-edge solutions to our valued customers. As pioneers, we at du are honored to lead the way with such innovative solutions.

“Our enduring partnership with Huawei has consistently yielded fruitful results, and with the introduction of FWA², we aim to redefine the boundaries of user experience by providing our subscribers with unparalleled indoor internet connectivity.”

Li Peng, Huawei’s Corporate Senior Vice President and President of the company’s Carrier BG, echoed this sentiment.

He said, “Today, Huawei is thrilled to unveil the 5G-A powered villa at the ‘home of the future’. The showcase offers a firsthand look at the infinite possibilities that 5G-Advanced technology will bring to future homes, along with the superior network experience that 5G-A will offer mobile users. This achievement is only the beginning.

“Moving forward, Huawei will continue to support du in its efforts to build the best 5G networks, explore the commercial use of 5G-Advanced networks, and champion du’s leadership in this transformative era.”

The 5G-A villa demonstrates the boundless potential that deterministic experience technology holds for future households.

From a commercial perspective, May Li, solution and marketing VP, Carrier Business Group at Huawei Middle East & Central Asia, tells Gulf Business that 5G-A will advance several industry-user cases, from autonomous drive cars to flying taxis among other artificial intelligence-enabled systems.

“On the commercial case, of course, there’s a 5G tolling passage spectrum from low, medium to high band. The high band is going to the area of the mixer a millimetre away, so anything under 60 gigahertz. So all these things together will support the demand of the capacity recovery and the latency required for the 5G advanced user cases,” says Li.

“The original 5G was behind the mobile phone but 5G-A allow users to connect massive machines and it is enabling the Internet-of-Things,” adds Li.

Following the unveiling of the 5G-A, Li said the advanced technology will eventually be deployed commercially across the UAE, “but the biggest thing is how we are going to design market strategies that will thrive continuously and meet the customers’ requirements.

However, Li said it is the responsibility of the service provider, “but our aim is to promote more commercial use cases to help companies capture the market opportunity.”

Utilising Huawei’s innovative FWA² solution, it illustrates how Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) has evolved into an operator’s powerful tool for rapid user expansion in the 5G era.

As the transition to 5G-A/5.5G takes place, the FWA² solution, comprising FWA Pro, FWA Lite, and FWA Biz, promises unparalleled services for discerning customers. FWA Pro, engineered to support a phenomenal rate of 10Gbps, reimagines smart home living and unlocks vast business opportunities.

The 14th Global Mobile Broadband Forum, themed “Bring 5.5G into Reality,” is taking place in Dubai, UAE, from October 10 to 11.

Hosted by Huawei and supported by industry partners GSMA, GTI, and the SAMENA Telecommunications Council, the forum explores the achievements of 5G, the maturity of the ecosystem, the swift commercialization of 5G-A/5.5G, and how mobile broadband technology is shaping the future, transforming people’s lives and industries.

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