Kuala Lumpur, September 29: ZTE Corporation Malaysia recently organised a half day teleconference that highlighted the need for Malaysian industries and telecommunication operators to be open and receptive to the many opportunities that will manifest in the global post-pandemic era. This includes the implementation of efficient network modernisation and 5G evolution to support the growth of the country’s digital economy, promote industry reform and enhance socioeconomic values.
Featuring several of its top local and global executives, this virtual event, titled Empowering Digital Transformation, included key highlights such as the application of ZTE’s cutting-edge solutions and latest 5G innovations to address network transformation for 5G commercialization and deployment in the ecosystems including Urban, Extreme Data Venues and Data-Intensive Indoor.
A number of 5G business cases were also presented during the event to highlight how these new technologies are used around the world and can be applied in Malaysia in the digitalization efforts of a wide range of economic sectors.
This highly successful event which drew a wide-ranging audience including telecommunications operators, regulators and government agencies as well as private enterprises, was carefully curated by ZTE Malaysia. It shared information and cutting-edge developments of 5G around the world and how ZTE Malaysia can help the government and its partners to realise Malaysia’s national digitalization plan (Jendela) which aspires to increase coverage and strengthen Malaysia’s sustainable and inclusive Internet connectivity infrastructure.
In his keynote address, Bai Yang, Vice President of ZTE Corporation stressed on the transformative changes brought on by 5G and many other new information technologies. Examples of 5G used in the manufacturing, transportation and power sectors including that of renewable energy sources were illustrated. Bai Yang also stressed that ZTE is more than willing to cooperate with its partners to realise a new wave of iterative technology innovations in Malaysia.
The manufacturing sector which accounts for approximately 21% of Malaysia’s GDP is just one of the many key industries poised to benefit from digital transformation to turn production lines in manufacturing factories into “smart factories”. This can be done by creating 5G Standalone (SA) private networks. Bai Yang further elaborated that more efficient and intelligent production and manufacturing could be realized with lower power consumption through 5G Industrial Internet, Multi-access Edge Computing and Artificial Intelligence.
Sharing a 5G SA use case in Thailand, ZTE and Advanced Info Service (AIS), one of Thailand's top wireless carriers and Internet service providers, are working in collaboration with Suranaree University of Technology (SUT) to develop Thailand’s first 5G smart factory. This was accomplished with the use of multiple advanced solutions such as 5G cloud machine vision, 5G industrial Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV), Augmented Reality (AR) remote guidance, Virtual Reality (VR) panoramic monitoring and unmanned inspection robots. These technologies could similarly be applied to Malaysia.
Bai Yang also cited ZTE’s experiences in establishing China's first 5G intelligent district in the Binjiang district of Nan Jing in 2019. The coordinated incorporation of 5G within the industrial supply chain witnessed further growth in the use of 5G and promoted new 5G businesses in the surrounding areas. This enhanced not only production quality and improved worker safety but also upskilled workers to be able to meet the demands of the digital economy. ZTE had also showcased its 5G private network verticals in other industries such as the Austria 5G bee-o-meter and the Belgium Antwerp smart port.
He also pointed out that 5G and Cloud-based networks and services are already accelerating network convergence and are becoming increasingly crucial in building a unified and intelligent transport network for telcos, paramount for future network and services monetisation.
5G is definitely the future. A study compiled by IHS Markit (published in late 2019) underlines the potential of 5G. It projected that the use cases enabled by 5G will contribute a staggering USD 13.2 trillion to the global economy by 2035 and will be responsible for generating more than 22 million jobs. Malaysia cannot afford to be left behind.
In Malaysia, ZTE is working with its strategic partners DiGi, UMobile, TM and Celcom to bring quality connectivity to all Malaysians through the use of ZTE solutions and cutting-edge technologies. Malaysian operators will be able to leverage enhanced network capabilities in three key aspects – bandwidth, agility and scheduling to improve the quality of service, leading to better user experiences, and potentially wider access. This can be achieved with new innovations for 5G uplink enhancements and gigabit optical access for wired broadband.
Bai Yang also elaborated that due to innovations in base stations ZTE was able to improve the design of chipsets, power amplifiers and system integration for higher power efficiency while also aligning to the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals of companies and assisting Malaysian operators in building green networks more efficiently.
He also announced that ZTE was working with its partners to realise the Jendela initiatives to improve socioeconomic values and contribute towards knowledge transfer. This was to be accomplished through the establishment of the E2E Training Center in Multimedia University Melaka and the 5G Training Center in Multimedia University Cyberjaya by the end of 2021 which would not have been possible without the continuous support of ZTE’s partners and academia.
