Making another big step towards commercializing 5G, Huawei unveiled its new microwave equipment designed to eke more efficiency out of spectrum and paving the way for 5G mobile backhaul.
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd , which is in pre-commercial 5G deployment with more than 30 network operators and has signed 5G field trial agreements with 45 total, says it's the industry's first 5G microwave equipment.
Renato Lombardi, fellow and head of Huawei's Italy Research Center, tells Light Reading that some of the new equipment's new features include multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), carrier aggregation (CA), 8KQAM modulation and super dual band microwave. (See Huawei Launches the Industry's First 5G Microwave Equipment at MWC 2018.)
He also echoed wireless operators that spoke at MWC on the need for more spectrum to be made available for backhaul in millimeter wave. Huawei has more than 70% of its basestations connecting with microwave on 3G and 4G networks and says it will continue to play a significant role for backhaul in 5G as well. (See Seen & Heard at MWC: 5G Across the Globe.)
Check out the video below for more of Lombardi's thoughts on 5G spectrum and backhaul considerations.
— Sarah Thomas, Contributing Editor, Telco Transformation