Event report: anticipating the evolution of 5G for business

This year’s Huawei-hosted Global MBB Forum took place in Dubai, and focussed in particular on the evolution of the 5G standard towards 5.5G. (Or in 3GPP language, 5G Advanced).

As with last year’s iteration, it was an interesting event, providing a way for the communications industry to address itself in strategic terms. Naturally enough, there was also a focus on the host region, as evidenced across numerous presentations.  

The conference began with a conversation between rotating and acting Huawei chair Ken Hu, and director general of the GSMA, Mats Granryd. Hu began by outlining the evolution of 5G up until this point, beginning with its commercial launch four years ago.

He said: “In the past four years, [the industry] has achieved a great deal of progress. There are more than 260 5G networks in the world, covering nearly half of the world’s population.

“It’s clear that the adoption of 5G is much faster than 4G. Also, the capability of 5G gave our industry great opportunities to get access into the B2B market.