Huawei plans major overhaul of ultra-broadband for AI-driven future

David Wang, Huawei's executive director of the board and chairman of the ICT Infrastructure Managing Board,[JB1]  delivers a speech at the Ultra-Broadband Forum (UBBF), Oct. 31, 2024.

Huawei has announced a major overhaul of its ultra-broadband (UBB) and fixed network infrastructure, designed to help UBB operators manage the surge in AI-driven traffic and benefit from integrating AI into their own networks.

"One day soon, AI will be completely pervasive," said David Wang, Huawei's executive director of the board and chairman of the ICT Infrastructure Managing Board. "We have been refining our strategies to stay ahead."

Wang outlined the company’s vision for integrating UBB technologies with AI at the Ultra-Broadband forum in Istanbul last month.

He highlighted two key strategies in this transformation. The first, dubbed "UBB for AI," focuses on enhancing UBB capabilities to better support the demands of AI development.

“Widespread commercial use of AI is accelerating,” Wang noted, projecting a five-fold increase in AI-generated network traffic by 2030. According to IDC, every dollar invested in AI could generate $4.60 in the global economy, contributing nearly $20 trillion within the same timeframe.

However, Wang cautioned that these forecasts hinge on robust UBB networks. Without them, ambitious AI applications like advanced smart homes simply won't be possible. To address this, Huawei introduced several innovations under its “UBB5.5G” umbrella, designed to help telecom operators deliver the bandwidth and low latency that AI requires.

Huawei's UBB5.5G equips providers with specialized tools to capitalize on the opportunities presented by AI, from supporting large data centers to ensuring fast connections for everyday users.

For data center networks (DCNs), Huawei launched the Dragonfly+ Topology architecture and new DC-OXC technologies, enabling large-scale computing centers to efficiently manage and process AI workloads.

On the data center interconnect (DCI) front, Huawei is now shipping advanced technologies, including 800G IP + Optical networking and flexible IP service-flow scheduling. These solutions optimize the distribution of computing power across multiple data centers, ensuring fast and reliable data transfer.

Wang emphasized the increasing demand for these solutions, stating, “AI training and inference resources are deployed in a distributed manner. This means we will need 10 times more data centers for AI operations. Latency between data centers directly affects computing efficiency.”

To help UBB providers meet the demands of real-time AI applications — like live video analytics and smart home automation — Huawei's OXC Mesh networking significantly reduces latency.

Additionally, technologies such as Wi-Fi 7 and 50G PON provide the necessary 10 gigabit access, facilitating widespread AI adoption among end users.

Wang’s message was clear: strong UBB networks are essential for the future of AI across all industries, and operators stand to profit immensely as long as their networks can support it.

But Huawei wasn’t done there. Wang also unveiled a suite of solutions under the "AI for UBB" banner that embed AI directly into operators' network infrastructure, boosting efficiency and promising unparalleled network autonomy.

"We are applying AI to improve user experience, speed up service provisioning, and streamline operations," Wang said.

Huawei has integrated AI into its own operations and maintenance (O&M) architecture, which includes its proprietary digital twin technology for real-time monitoring and its own Telecom Foundation Model.

This AI architecture even enables the creation of smart "co-pilots" and specialized "agents," which function like virtual employees that help manage the network. These tools can automate tasks both on-site and remotely, making it easier to keep the network running smoothly.

Carriers at the event reported significant improvements in network efficiency from these AI-embedded solutions. Attendees noted that maintenance tasks that once took a month are now completed in just one day, while network repairs are finished twice as quickly.

Huawei shared that one home broadband provider using this network self-optimization saw such an improvement in user experience that they managed to reduce their churn rate by 57%.

At the end of his speech, Wang encouraged UBB operators to fully embrace the intelligent era by focusing on innovation in UBB5.5G technologies to stay competitive. He also emphasized the importance of developing new intelligent services along with upgrading network capabilities, stating that new partnerships and business opportunities in AI applications will drive intelligent service transformation and stimulate new business growth.

Huawei’s "AI for UBB" solutions arrive as major broadband providers race to automate their operations. Nine out of 10 carriers[L2] [TS3]  already use some form of AI, with companies spending $20 billion on AI software last year alone — a figure expected to double to $40 billion by 2027.

A 2024 McKinsey study found that most telecom companies had already cut costs using generative AI in their networks.The forum in Istanbul's historic Beyoğlu district attracted thousands of participants from major telecom companies, industry partners and analysts.