Huawei Trials 10Gbps Wi-Fi Network

Huawei says it has successfully carried out laboratory tests of the industry’s first ever 10Gbps Wi-Fi connection at its campus in Shenzhen, China, claiming the development is a massive step towards the commercial launch of next generation wireless networks.

The Chinese harware manufacturer’s prototype achieved a “record” data transmission rate of 10.53Gbps using 5GHz spectrum. Such speeds were made possible thanks to a tenfold increase in spectrum efficiency, and are ten times faster than the capability of any existing, commercially available infrastructure.

It is hoped that ‘ultrafast Wi-Fi’ could be made available to businesses from 2018, assuming the appropriate standard is approved in time. Huawei’s Osama Aboul Magd was recently elected as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE’s) 802.11ax task group chair, to focus on the development of a 10Gbps Wi-Fi standard.

Huawei 10Gbps Wi-Fi

Huawei says the need for faster speeds will become apparent in the next decade  as smartphone applications because increasingly more data-intensive, and is targeting the technology at densely populated network environments such as offices, airports, stadiums, shopping malls and coffee shops.

Huawei is also investing £374 million into research and development of new 5G technologies over the next five years, predicting that the first such networks will be available for commercial deployment in 2020. It expects 5G to be able to offer data rates of 10Gbps, one hundred times faster than 4G.

The company is also working on fixed line innovations, such as its G.Fast technology, a faster version of DSL that is capable of speeds of 1Gbps on existing copper infrastructure for a distance of up to 250 metres, reducing the cost for operators.

A new Huawei R&D centre is planned for the UK to complement its existing facility near Ipswich, as part of an ongoing  £1.3 billion investment in the UK . Earlier this week, Vince Cable, UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills visited Huawei’s headquarters in Shenzhen. Meanwhile BT has agreed a memorandum of understanding to provide data centre services to the Chinese firm.

“Huawei’s long-term commitment to the UK is a vote of confidence in our status as a knowledge economy,” said Cable. “The location of key Huawei R&D facilities in the UK will have a direct global impact on cutting-edge technologies. This is further evidence that global companies are attracted to the UK because of the strength of our skills base and the Government’s investment in it.”

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