China Mobile Hebei and Huawei deploy 5G indoor gigabit networks

Shijiazhuang -- China Mobile Hebei and Huawei achieved a critical milestone with the launch of a 5G indoor ubiquitous Gigabit network. Powered by 5G distributed Massive MIMO technology, the network is the first of its kind to be constructed in metro substations in China. Field tests showed a user-perceived rate of over 1 Gbps in 95% of the substation areas. This upgrades networks from providing Gbps peak rates to delivering a ubiquitous Gbps experience to users regardless of their physical locations.

As a new generation mobile communications technology, 5G was introduced to significantly improve user experience over 4G. It guarantees high bandwidth and works perfectly with Massive MIMO technology to provide users with Gbps data rates. However, in the waiting halls of high-speed railway stations and other large open areas with a high density of users, such Gbps experience may not be always guaranteed due to radio signal interference. Providing a ubiquitous and consistent service experience in such areas has become an urgent requirement.

Based on Huawei's distributed Massive MIMO technology specially built for indoor networks, China Mobile Hebei first verified the provisioning of ubiquitous Gigabit experience in high-speed railway stations with a high mobility of users. This verification marks a new leap toward making premium network experience ubiquitous.

Distributed Massive MIMO is vital to greatly improve 5G performance and support 5G ubiquitous Gigabit networks. Introducing the leading technologies of outdoor 5G Massive MIMO to indoor networks, distributed Massive MIMO enables indoor networks to leverage joint beamforming and multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) to improve both 5G network capacity and user experience. It improves signal quality by eliminating the co-channel interference on multi-cell networks to ensure high speed and high-quality experience in most areas with 5G coverage. The verification results showed an improvement of over 30% in user-perceived speed and consistent Gigabit experience for users on the move.

Han Binjie, an expert in 5G from China Mobile Hebei, said: "A ubiquitous Gigabit experience in traffic-hungry areas, such as airports, railway and metro stations, and exhibition halls, will be essential to meeting the growing demand for HD video, VR, AR, and XR services. China Mobile Hebei will continue to work with Huawei to deliver this experience to 5G users through continuous technological innovation."