Barcelona, Spain- Yang Chaobin the CEO of Huawei’s ICT Business Group, has called on the ICT industry to intensify efforts in ensuring everyone can access the fast track of AI at MWC Barcelona 2026.
The appeal included recommendations on spectrum and network capabilities for scaling 5G-Advanced to support emerging AI applications, and a call to expand inclusive connectivity to bridge the digital divide in underserved regions.
In his keynote address, Yang said, “The intelligent era is approaching fast, New AI applications are emerging every day, and so it is time for the industry to come together to unleash the full potential of 5G-A. We must efficiently utilize new spectrum resources like U6 GHz to create new value for the industry while paving the way for evolution to 6G.”
According to Yang, as AI applications like text-to-video and AI-powered shopping become more and more common, token consumption will surge. The number of tokens consumed daily has grown 300 times over the past two years. Yang believes that this is creating enormous opportunities for the mobile industry.
He However revealed that, these achievements have highlighted gaps which he says the industry must address.
“Firstly, networks must move away from being downlink-centric and deliver ultra-high bandwidth both uplink and downlink to support multimodal data exchanges between devices and clouds for AI. Secondly, networks must provide secure, reliable, and ultra-low-latency connectivity to support real-time AI collaboration and intelligent decision-making.6G standardization is also already underway, and its standards are not expected to be frozen before March 2029, according to 3GPP” Yang explained.
He noted that the next five years will create a window of opportunity both for mobile AI services to boom and for the industry to create new value, so long as carriers invest effectively in 5G-A.
“This half-generation step between 5G and 6G is already playing a key role in the industry, as it delivers 10 times higher uplink speeds, superior AI service experience, new IoT technologies like reduced capability (RedCap) and passive IoT, and AI for differentiated network capabilities”
There are already 70 million 5G-A users globally, and 5G-A is increasingly being adopted by carriers at scale.
In China, Huawei has helped carriers deliver contiguous 5G-A coverage across 270 cities and launch 5G-A packages that monetize experience in over 30 provinces.
The all-scenario U6 GHz products and solutions Huawei released today use innovative technologies to create a high-capacity, low-latency, optimal-experience backbone designed for mobile AI applications.
