TE South Africa, a subsidiary of ZTE Corporation, a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the mobile Internet, has reiterated the corporation's strong commitment to lead 5G innovations globally.
ZTE has invested significantly in 5G wireless, core network; bear network, access, chip-set and other core R&D fields. By 2018, ZTE had filed applications for over 69 000 patents globally, with more than 30 000 granted worldwide, including over 1 700 5G-related patent applications globally.
In August 2018, ZTE completed IMT-2020 (5G) Phase III NSA core network test and IMT- 2020 (5G) Phase III NSA 3.5 GHz field test.
On 25 September, ZTE launched its ZXMP M721 CX63A, a new compact metro edge E-OTN device for 5G network construction. The new device, featuring centralised cross-connection and great support for 5G front-haul, mid-haul and back-haul, is capable of performing service transport on aggregation access layers while offering big bandwidth to metro edge. It also provides a unified platform for integrated processing, making it possible for operators to spend less on their network construction. The device allows access to optical signals in diversified formats and supports ODUk / packet / VC-based centralised cross-connection while performing cross-connect scheduling of packet, OTN and TDM services. Moreover, it enables integrated service processing on one unified platform.
The new device supports both hard and soft network slicing at the same time. In addition to optical and electrical hybrid cross-connecting, it is also capable of switching services from L0 to L3. The ZXMP M721 CX63A, combined with optical time domain reflecto-meter (OTDR), auto power optimisation (APO) software-defined optical networks (SDON) for building intelligent and open network architecture, is recognised for fewer network layers, simplified upgrade and O&M and compact design. This all combines to help customers run 5G networks with lower operating expenses.
When it comes to Africa, and particularly South Africa, ZTE South Africa marketing director Zhang Lei says most countries are rolling out 4G and mobile operators still expect to recover their 4G investment. Therefore, ZTE has developed pre-5G as an end-to-end solution to provide an enhanced user experience on 4G.
"Pre-5G allows African networks to maximise their return on investment in 4G, while preparing their users for the incoming 5G," Zhang explains. "Pre-5G will show users what they can expect from 5G, thereby creating market demand.
"We see South Africa and Africa full of potential. The rapid growth of subscribers and data usage, along with the rise of enterprise IOT, drives the network evolution. Therefore, pre-5G will certainly boom in Africa in the next few years, which is also the technical preparation for 5G rollout after 2020."