Huawei’s rotating chairman Guo Ping stated that 5G will be the “new electricity” in a keynote address at the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal earlier this week. He added that this will be a golden opportunity for the tech industry and developers.
In the speech, he said that 5G added with “x” will lead to a smart era. The “x” factor could be mainly AI, big data, VR or AR. According to Mr. Ping, there will be “countless possibilities for entrepreneurs”.
“3G and 4G solved the problem of connecting people. 5G and AI represent a tipping point for ICT. This technology will be further applied in all industries, like electricity was over a century ago. This makes ICT a key enabler for industry development.”, said Mr. Ping.
He also emphasized on the fact that 5G technology is growing faster than predicted timelines. “The rollout of 5G commercial networks is occurring more rapidly than expected. We predict by the end of this year we will see 60 commercial 5G networks.”, he added.
Surprisingly, there was no word regarding the ongoing US trade ban situation from Mr.Ping throughout the conference. This must be because there is no clarity regarding the situation so far to be made public yet. Huawei’s CEO Ren Zhengfei told Chinese reporters that the trade ban situation has affected the company in a positive way.
In the meantime, we saw US Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, hinting that at least some of the restrictions on Huawei may be lifted soon and the licenses “will be forthcoming very shortly”. However, we will have to wait to see how things turn out.
So, do you agree with Guo Ping’s views towards 5G? Tell us in the comments.
