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Huawei's Strategic Innovations in AI UBB

At the recently held 11th Ultra-Broadband Forum (UBBF) 2025 in Paris, James Chen, President of Huawei's Carrier Business, presented profound insights into the evolving landscape of ultra-broadband (UBB) technology. Under the theme "Triple Leaps to AI UBB Inspiring New Business Growth," Chen discussed how operators can harness artificial intelligence to drive innovation and expand their business horizons.

The telecom industry is at a pivotal juncture, and Huawei's pioneering practices offer a roadmap for operators looking to leverage AI for sustainable growth. Chen articulated his vision of three essential dimensions of innovation: depth, breadth, and height. Let’s explore each of these leaps in detail:

Leap in Depth: Experience-Centric Monetization

One of the key aspects Chen emphasized was the shift from traditional bandwidth-focused monetization to an experience-centric model. By integrating AI capabilities with their networks, operators can effectively identify areas for application experience improvements. This proactive approach assures enhanced user experiences for critical applications like AI-powered gaming and high-definition livestreaming.

For instance, a prominent operator in Thailand implemented Huawei's AI WAN solution, which enabled them to develop new experience assurance capabilities. As a result, users reported smoother gaming interactions, and the operator experienced a significant increase in their average revenue per user (ARPU).

Leap in Breadth: Expanding Business Boundaries

Huawei’s innovations also push the business landscape beyond traditional telecom services into digital intelligence and computing solutions. In the home networking segment alone, global operators have amassed over 1 billion home gateways, which position them strategically to transition into smart home service providers.

The introduction of Huawei’s AI Homehub has paved the way for operators to augment their service offerings. One operator adopted this technology and raised its ARPU from home services by an impressive 60%.

In the small and medium enterprise (SME) market, telecom operators are leveraging fiber to the office (FTTO) solutions to provide standardized digital services, such as video and IoT offerings. Huawei has introduced multiple FTTO solutions, with Chinese carriers successfully utilizing them to onboard over 2 million FTTO users.

Moreover, enhancements in the enterprise market, particularly for mid-sized and large enterprises, have also been significant. Operators are deploying Wi-Fi-based solutions to enable new features like fall detection in elderly care and intelligent management of meeting rooms. For example, one operator in the UAE utilized Huawei's cutting-edge AirEngine Wi-Fi 7 to introduce Wi-Fi-as-a-Service, which dramatically lowered the total cost of ownership for meeting room systems by 67%.

The evolving landscape of AI services presents yet another opportunity for operators. The growing enterprise need for cloud computing necessitates advanced networks with capabilities for lossless transmission and enhanced security features. By collaborating with China Telecom Shanghai, Huawei developed a high-performing intelligent IP WAN network, significantly improving computational efficiency for enterprise customers.

Leap in Height: Transforming Network Operations

Chen also shared insights on transforming network operations from a reactive, work-order-driven model to intelligent operations. By achieving autonomous network operations, telecom providers can enhance user satisfaction and optimize service delivery.

An illustrative case comes from Spain, where Huawei partnered with MasOrange to create Europe’s first Level 4 autonomous IP network. Utilizing the iMaster NCE framework, operators can greatly reduce the mean time to repair (MTTR), thus fostering improved user satisfaction.

Future Endeavors

Chen concluded his keynote by underscoring that the AI UBB journey is still in its nascent stages. Huawei is keen to collaborate with industry leaders and operators to drive continuous innovation. The company’s mission is to enable its partners to thrive in the AI-era while achieving operational excellence.

As AI technology continues to reshape the telecom landscape, Huawei stands at the forefront, providing innovative solutions that promise not just enhanced user experiences, but also meaningful business growth. The insights shared at UBBF 2025 mark a significant step forward in realizing the potential of AI in ultra-broadband services.