In this Q&A, Ray Williamson, Director of European Product Management at Huawei, outlines current trends, challenges, and the road ahead for wireless networks.
Telecoms: What are the main trends and challenges for operators over the next five years and how will networks evolve to meet these needs?
Ray Williamson: The first wave of 5G rollout — now largely in place — concentrated on improving the consumer experience in urban areas.
The next phase, already underway and extending through about 2025, will push 5G coverage nationwide. That expansion will connect transport corridors and rural communities, with solutions such as 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) offering a practical alternative to fibre in areas where laying cable is costly or slow. This phase will also accelerate adoption within vertical industries, unlocking efficiencies and new services for both private enterprises and public sector organizations.
A central challenge operators face is rising network and site complexity: multiple technologies, many frequency bands, a wide variety of devices, and ongoing pressure to manage energy consumption. Simplifying site architectures and applying AI-driven network operations are important strategies to address this complexity and keep operational costs under control.
As 5G demonstrates reliability, security, and seamless integration with existing systems in industry-specific deployments, it encourages investment and the formation of partner ecosystems. Exploring industry-specific 5G use cases and their commercial potential is a key objective of collaborative testbeds such as the Cambridge Wireless initiative in which Huawei participates.
T: What can the UK learn from early adopters of wireless technologies elsewhere in the world?
RW: South Korea led the initial 5G roll-out, and China has since deployed 5G at massive scale. Lessons from these early adopters show that 5G stimulates greater consumer demand for advanced video and AR experiences — for example 4K and 360-degree video — which increases data consumption and can lift Average Revenue Per User.
We also see more robust ecosystem partnerships: mobile network operators working with device makers, application developers, system integrators, and technology vendors. These collaborations accelerate adoption and deliver tangible 5G value by combining network capabilities with content, devices, and industry expertise.
T: Which industries are already being transformed by 5G and which industries are next?
RW: Heavy industries such as mining, steel, and ports have been early beneficiaries of industrial 5G, employing IoT, big data, AI, and remote expert systems to improve safety, enable remote operation, and increase automation. For example, trials at the Port of Rotterdam since 2018 have explored how video and remote control can improve operations and efficiency.
Healthcare has also seen tangible gains, particularly during the pandemic, through robot assistance, remote collaboration, and teleconsultation — all of which can lower cost and improve access. Manufacturing continues to benefit from automation, improved planning, and productivity gains.
Looking ahead, hospitality and retail are poised to see significant benefits from 5G as XR experiences and personalised services become more prevalent. Public services will also improve as cities deploy 5G-enabled systems to manage infrastructure and deliver citizen services more effectively.
T: How and when will we see big societal improvements directly driven by 5G and 5.5G, for example in traffic management and reduced emissions?
RW: In the UK, several city and regional authorities are already running Safe City plans and 5G pilots. 5G can feed large volumes of real-time data across urban areas, enabling more dynamic operations, more efficient services, and greener outcomes.
In transport, on-demand delivery and pick-up can replace rigid schedules, reducing unnecessary trips. Traffic congestion can be reduced through real-time routing enabled by sensors and V2X communication, while parking can be managed dynamically to cut cruising time and emissions.
These services will typically require mixed public and private investment. I expect 5G overlay services to appear within the next one to two years, with more substantial replacements of legacy infrastructure occurring over the next three to five years. The earliest wins will be services that integrate easily with existing systems.
T: What is Huawei’s 1+N strategy and how is this impacting the wireless industry?
RW: As services driven by 5G evolve, networks must continue to advance while managing growing complexity. Huawei’s 1+N strategy builds a high-bandwidth, mid-band foundation network to deliver ubiquitous, high-speed connectivity at low cost per bit using simplified sites.
Mid-band spectrum balances coverage and throughput effectively, and M-MIMO is a core technology to achieve that foundation. It supports advanced consumer services like XR and wide-area enterprise use cases.
Ultra-Wideband power amplifiers reduce the number of remote radio units on a site — from a typical six to as few as two — cutting site complexity and total cost of ownership. The “N” in 1+N refers to on-demand capabilities that deliver differentiated services: ultra-reliable low-latency communications for remote surgery, high uplink throughput for remote TV production, and precise positioning for manufacturing automation and logistics.
As networks move toward 5.5G, new capabilities will emerge. Uplink-centric broadband communications (UCBC) will support machine vision; real-time broadband communications (RTBC) will enable ultra-wide bandwidth and high reliability for video-based industrial control; and harmonised communication and sensing (HCS) will provide the ultra-reliable, low-latency, high-precision positioning needed for connected vehicles and drones.
T: What are the key success factors in the wireless industry? For example, a strong R&D focus on core science, materials and mathematics — not just finished products
RW: 5G challenges the limits of communications and the underlying science — demanding innovations across performance, cost, form factor, and energy efficiency. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, which is why sustained investment in R&D is essential to create customised products and solutions for diverse scenarios.
A practical example is M-MIMO deployment in dense urban environments. In many Western European cities, regulations constrain antenna placement to a single antenna per sector, and mounting heights can be limited. To overcome these constraints, Huawei developed new materials and antenna designs that allow an M-MIMO active antenna unit to operate behind and through a passive antenna without causing interference. Complementing hardware advances, a decade of optimisation produced adaptive high-resolution (AHR) algorithms that improve coverage, capacity, and user experience.
AI is another key enabler, especially for energy efficiency. As networks grow more complex and load patterns vary across bands and sites, distributed AI algorithms can manage demand across clusters of sites to balance user experience with energy consumption, reducing costs while maintaining performance.
(Photo by Olav Ahrens Røtne on Unsplash)
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