At MWC Shanghai 2025, Huawei played host to the Mobile AI Summit, bringing together operators, AI pioneers, and academics to map out the next phase of mobile AI—one where 5G-Advanced (5G-A) doesn’t just connect devices, but underpins intelligent, monetizable experiences. The consensus? Faster uplink speeds, tighter network-service integration, and collaborative AI ecosystems are key to realizing mobile AI’s full potential.
The Big Picture: AI Is Getting Mobile, and Telecom Needs to Catch Up
Mobile AI isn’t just about putting chatbots on phones. As real-time, multi-modal AI experiences (think spatial computing, high-res video calls, and low-latency assistants) go mainstream, they’re demanding serious upgrades to mobile infrastructure. Uplink speeds of 20 Mbps and above are becoming table stakes, not luxuries.
To that end, the summit marked the launch of the GSMA Foundry project: “Mobile Network for Thriving AI”—an industry-wide push to build experience-centered networks that can handle the demands of AI-driven apps. The project signifies a shift in operator strategy: from just monetizing bandwidth to monetizing experiences.
From Traffic to Experience: Operators Eye AI-Driven Monetization
One of the clearest signals from the summit was that AI is reshaping telecom economics. “We’re seeing a pivot from traffic monetization to business monetization,” said experts from Huawei and global operators. That means network investments are no longer just about raw throughput—they’re about service differentiation, low-latency performance, and end-to-end SLA guarantees.
Speakers from Ookla, MiniMax, Rokid, and Unitree Robotics highlighted how AI-powered services are evolving beyond touchscreen interfaces. The future is voice, video, and spatial inputs—and AI models with higher bitrates and better real-time responsiveness. That future is being throttled, or accelerated, by mobile network capabilities.
Huawei’s GigaBand: 5G-A’s Next-Level Play
Huawei, unsurprisingly, came ready with its solution. The company unveiled the GigaBand portfolio, a suite of technologies designed to turbocharge 5G-A for mobile AI. Key innovations include:
- AIR Pooling: Smarter allocation of air interface resources
- Optsolver: An orchestration engine that dynamically tunes network resources for AI-intensive services
In practice, GigaBand allows networks to scale flexibly and meet diverse needs—whether it’s for live streaming, mobile AI assistants, or cloud gaming. Early deployments are already showing results. In Hong Kong, multi-band 4G/5G sharing through GigaBand boosted 5G throughput by 2.28x while keeping 4G performance stable.
That matters, especially as operators are pressed to support low-carbon, high-efficiency networks in dense urban environments—without alienating legacy users or crushing CAPEX budgets.
5G-A + AI: Not a Buzzword, But an Infrastructure Reality
Wen Ku, President of the China Communications Standards Association, summed up the industry’s direction: “The integration of 5G-A and AI is a critical vector for network evolution. Standardization, ecosystem collaboration, and intelligent architectures are no longer optional—they’re strategic necessities.”
It’s a point echoed by Zhi-Quan Luo, IEEE Fellow and member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who stressed that the winning networks of tomorrow will be measured not just by download speeds, but by uplink performance, latency, and stability—all crucial for enabling smooth, AI-rich services.
What This Means for the Mobile Industry
The summit revealed a telecom industry that’s no longer simply reacting to AI—it’s actively shaping it. By weaving network and service layers more tightly together, telcos are looking to carve out new revenue streams that go beyond bandwidth. Whether it’s high-quality video calls, real-time AI assistants, or next-gen AR experiences, the message is clear: Mobile AI is only as good as the networks it runs on.
And Huawei, with its GigaBand portfolio and ecosystem partnerships, is positioning itself as the vendor that can make that leap feasible
MWC Shanghai 2025 wrapped up with Huawei showcasing its latest AI and 5G-A solutions at SNIEC Hall N1, underscoring its commitment to turning intelligent connectivity into commercial reality—not just in China, but globally. With 5G-Advanced moving into wider deployment this year, expect more operators to get serious about experience-first networks—and more AI innovators to follow.
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