China Unicom Guangdong and Huawei Win GSMA’s “5G Productivity Challenge” Award

[Guangzhou, China, February 2, 2023] China Unicom Guangdong and Huawei’s 5G Digital Fishing project won the GSMA’s “5G Productivity Challenge” Award. This represents recognition of the two parties jointly innovating new 5G products, building the 5G operations ecosystem, and driving industry digitalization through the 5G “U-Joy Cities” program, and provides valuable experience for in-depth development of 5G applications in cities around the world.

“Along more than 450 km of coastline near the Chinese city of the Yangjiang, 5G is quite literally transforming the lives of workers in the fishing industry by enabling them to monitor the weather, market their catch, and keep in touch with families, while up to 60 km offshore. Already serving more than 4,000 boats, China Unicom’s digital fishing vessel system is also helping the authorities reduce the risks posed by typhoons, while clamping down on illegal operations that might result in over-fishing,” quoted from David Pringle, a judge from Pringle Media.

China Unicom’s digital fishing vessel system uses 5G MetaAAU with ELAA, the next-generation Extremely Large Antenna Array, which performs outstandingly in improving coverage, increasing the number of users, and stimulating traffic in coastal areas. Onsite test results show that 5G commercial terminals can provide stable and seamless network experience of over 400 Mbps within 30 km off the shore. In addition, China Unicom Guangdong and Huawei have jointly verified innovative features such as 5G Super Uplink and Downlink CA by leveraging the 2.1+3.5 GHz dual-band resources. The test results show that 5G commercial terminals can maintain the access capability of 60 Mbps in the downlink and 2 Mbps in the uplink within a distance of 61 km off the coast, enabling excellent experience in coastal areas, stable signal transmission in offshore areas, and call connections in open sea areas. According to the statistics, with 5G MetaAAU deployed, the average number of users, uplink traffic, and downlink traffic increase by 19.3%, 43%, and 24.6%, respectively.

In May, 2022, China Unicom Guangdong and Huawei jointly unveiled the 5G “U-Joy Cities” innovative network program, with the aim to provide users with high-quality network products and meet digital transformation requirements of various industries. The two parties have also combined 5G network capabilities with the characteristics of cities in Guangdong and the Greater Bay Area to implement 5G “U-Joy Cities” in Foshan Manufacturing City, Yangjiang Marine City, and Guangzhou Gigabit City with industry partners, fully unleashing the value of 5G for smart life and smart industries.

China Unicom Guangdong and Huawei will continue to explore innovative technologies and applications to drive new 5.5G application scenarios, promote high-level resource sharing and equalization of basic public services, achieve same network experience in urban and rural areas, and help rural revitalization, illuminating a better future for the economy, society, and people’s livelihood in Guangdong.