WCA May 2014

Industry news

5G heading to Europe HUAWEI is taking decisive action to make the fifth generation of wireless systems (5G) a reality for Europe. At the 5G@Europe Summit in Munich, Germany, participants discussed how best to join forces to speed up progress towards achieving this objective. 5G is the next generation of ultra-fast wireless networks that will power the technology of tomorrow. Huawei is investing in a tremendous research and development effort to turn this investment into technological progress for Europe, thanks to an open and collaborative approach involving industry partners, consortiums, universities and leading innovation platforms around the world. The 5G@Europe Summit provided the opportunity to discuss the challenges and opportunities involved in 5G including long-term vision and requirements, key technology drivers and innovation as well as societal benefits. “5G will have a fundamental impact on the ICT industry and on our quality of life. Huawei is one of the driving forces in making 5G a reality,” said Dr Wen Tong, head of wireless research and head of communications technologies laboratories at Huawei 2012 LAB. “We began investing in 5G in 2009, and recently announced plans to invest an additional US$600m for research and innovation into 5G technologies by 2018.” Huawei will invest significant research and innovation efforts in Europe within the Horizon 2020 framework and beyond, especially at the Huawei European Research Centre (ERC). As a member of the European research consortium METIS, Huawei ERC is at the forefront of 5G research by developing the key technology components of the 5G Wireless interface. The ERC is also one of the key contributors to the Advanced 5G Infrastructure public-private partnership programme (5GPPP) defined by the European Commission. Huawei predicts that the first 5G networks will be ready for commercial deployment in 2020, delivering 1,000 times the capacity of current mobile networks and reaching peak data rates of over 10Gbps. Huawei – China Website : www.huawei.com Market hit by weather Operating rates at China’s major copper wire and cable producers averaged 75.47 per cent in January, down 9.97 per cent from December, Shanghai Metal Market’s latest survey showed. SMM surveyed 21 copper wire and cable producers with total capacity of 1.052 million tpy in January. Outdoor work slowed significantly in January as workers returned home for the Chinese New Year holiday and due to adverse weather conditions, depressing demand for wire and cable. Shanghai Metals Market – China Website : www.metal.com

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Wire & Cable ASIA – May/June 2014