Report: 5G-A Is Reshaping the Mobile AI Era

The rapid evolution of mobile artificial intelligence is creating unprecedented demands on global networks, pushing the boundaries of what wireless technology can achieve. Huawei’s latest report underscores how 5G-Advanced (5G-A) is fundamentally reshaping this landscape, integrating deeply with AI across five strategic dimensions: all frequency bands, comprehensive coverage, diverse scenarios, full digitalization, and complete intelligence. This powerful convergence is setting the stage for a new phase of industry growth and capability.

Projections indicate that 5G-A is entering a period of explosive expansion. By the close of 2025, more than fifty large-scale 5G-A networks are forecast to be operational worldwide. The number of smartphone models compatible with this enhanced standard is expected to surpass 120, bringing a premium connectivity experience to an estimated one hundred million users. Concurrently, the industrial sector is set to deploy nearly 60,000 private 5G-A networks, a development projected to stimulate over twenty trillion Chinese yuan in economic value.

This growth is happening alongside a surge in mobile AI. Shipments of AI-powered phones are anticipated to hit 400 million units by the end of 2025, overtaking traditional phone shipments for the first time. The daily creation of generative AI tokens will reach into the tens of trillions, injecting powerful momentum into the sector and fueling three major transformations.

Personal communications are being redefined by dedicated AI assistants, which enable highly personalized and intelligent interactions. By 2030, AI agents are predicted to outnumber conventional applications, giving rise to three distinct interaction models. The first, intent-based cross-app interaction, is expected to constitute 70% of all activities and demands ultra-low latency for immediate intent understanding. The second involves multi-agent collaboration across five or six devices, requiring dependable real-time connections. The third model is holographic emotional interaction, needing uplink speeds greater than 1 Gbps and high reliability to transform AI agents into genuine human companions.

In the realm of the Internet of Things, universal intelligent connectivity is quickly becoming a tangible reality. AI is expanding the frontiers of what can be connected, generating fresh industry demands. China already has twenty million intelligent connected vehicles on its roads, making assisted driving a standard user expectation. The future will see widespread adoption of wearable devices and embodied AI robots, creating billions of new IoT connections. This progression, known as the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT), is accelerating the digital and intelligent transformation of countless industries. A practical example is found in Shandong, China, where 5G-powered smart grids utilize drones and robots for automated inspections, boosting operational efficiency by a factor of eight and reducing fault response times to mere seconds.

Mobile networks themselves are undergoing a profound change with the advent of AgenticRAN. Intelligence is now being embedded into the core components of networks: spectrum, energy, and operations & maintenance. The Agentic Workflow facilitates intent-driven collaborative improvements across these domains, pushing network automation to Autonomous Network Level 4 (AN L4) and significantly enhancing overall network productivity.

Looking ahead, Huawei is concentrating its innovation efforts on five key areas to strengthen 5G-A capabilities and build a robust foundation for the mobile AI era.

All-band Massive MIMO technology is constructing premium pipelines for wireless networks. The company has introduced its unique ultra-wide band (UWB) Active Antenna Unit series. These solutions use a dual-band fused array design to enable coordinated coverage across high and low frequencies, granting users ubiquitous access to 5 Gbps high-speed connections. By establishing a unified architecture across large bandwidth spans, Huawei has rebuilt a foundational network capable of 100 Mbps speeds, ready to support pervasive IoT connectivity and real-time services.

All-coverage beamforming is enabling ubiquitous, multi-dimensional connectivity. Innovative solutions like the wide-angle Pano Radio series and the industry-leading lightweight EasyAAU series are designed to support massive numbers of high-quality connections. They leverage an ultra-wide-angle architecture and new materials for blade antennas to deliver superior uplink and downlink speeds with reduced latency. This capability allows mobile networks to facilitate seamless, real-time AI interactions and opens up new markets such as the low-altitude economy.

All-scenario seamless coverage is building networks centered on user experience. A suite of commercially deployed solutions, including RuralCow for integrated rural networks, the five-band-in-one-box LampSite X, and full-duplex microwave solutions, are dramatically improving network performance while reducing costs. These technologies ensure reliable connectivity for real-time intelligent applications across all environments, from dense cities and remote rural areas to indoor spaces, oceans, and deserts.

All-domain digital sites are establishing the groundwork for network intelligence. To solve the industry-wide challenge of passive equipment lacking perception and control, Huawei has launched unique digital antenna and digital power solutions. These make antennas and power supplies both digital and intelligent, allowing every part of a wireless site to be monitored and managed, which greatly enhances network efficiency and the end-user experience.

Pioneering the industry, Huawei has incubated the first agent engineer team to advance wireless networks to AN L4. This team comprises four types of virtual human experts capable of performing unmanned maintenance, real-time network optimization, continuous energy conservation, and precise business evaluation. By August 2025, these intelligent wireless capabilities were already serving more than sixty carriers and over 500,000 sites across the globe.

Huawei remains committed to delivering comprehensive end-to-end 5G-A network solutions. By collaborating with industry partners to drive technological innovation, the company aims to help carriers construct simplified, green, and intelligent AN L4 networks that deliver an optimal experience for every user.

(Source: ITWire Australia)