The Huawei Products and Solutions Launch was recently held in London. During the event, Huawei launched its RuralStar Pro solution. This solution integrates baseband, radio frequency (RF), and wireless backhaul functions into one base station, significantly reducing site deployment costs. RuralStar Pro makes it possible to provide voice and mobile broadband services to remote villages with a population smaller than 500.

According to a GSMA report, nearly 750 million people worldwide still have no mobile network coverage, while 3.5 billion people don’t have Internet access. The majority of these people live in remote areas with limited access to networks and electricity, and where it is expensive to build infrastructure. Traditional solutions need 8 to 10 years to recover their costs, so telecom operators are unwilling to roll out networks in remote areas.

Innovation never stops. The RuralStar Pro solution Huawei launched at the event is another example of the company’s commitment to technological breakthroughs. Through the use of high-integration chips, this “all-in-one” solution integrates baseband, RF, and wireless backhaul functions into one, reducing site dependence on infrastructure. RuralStar Pro requires only two solar panels to power the entire site, significantly reducing power consumption and lowering the weight of the base station to nearly 550 kilograms. The civil engineering work required is also reduced, ensuring simplified site delivery.

These new features allow for more simplified network equipment and decreased infrastructure costs, significantly reducing the cost of RuralStar Pro. The return on investment (ROI) period for operators also remains within 3–5 years, while providing mobile broadband services to rural areas with a population smaller than 500. RuralStar Pro moves a further step towards improving the lives of people in remote areas by enabling remote education, inclusive finance, telemedicine, and other digital social services.

“Due to low ROI in the rural network market, operators and equipment vendors have been very cautious with their investments”, said Hao Yingtao, President of the Wireless Site Domain of Huawei’s Wireless Network Product Line. “Huawei is committed to bridging the digital divide and promoting digital inclusiveness, and has never stopped investing in connecting the unconnected.”

“Through technological innovation, RuralStar Pro can effectively reduce power consumption, simplify sites, and reduce network construction costs. It will play a huge role in improving the accessibility of rural networks. Huawei will continue innovating and doing its utmost to bring digital to every corner around the world.”

Huawei has been committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for an intelligent world. In 2017, Huawei launched RuralStar, its innovative rural network solution. This solution transforms microwave or satellite transmissions used in traditional rural network solutions into relay remote node (RRN) wireless backhaul, towers into simple poles, and diesel generators into clean, green solar energy. These transformations reduce network deployment costs by more than 50%. RuralStar makes it possible for operators to profit from rural networks that serve remote areas with a population of over 1,000. This greatly encourages operators to tap into the rural network market.

At the Mobile World Congress 2019, Huawei launched RuralStar Lite, yet another innovative rural network solution. Fitted with four solar panels, RuralStar Lite greatly reduces power consumption. The solution allows all equipment to be installed on a pole, eliminating the need to build fences or install cabinets. The combination of these advantages significantly reduces site deployment costs. In villages with a population of 500 to 1,000 people, RuralStar Lite keeps operators’ ROI period within 3–5 years.

Huawei’s three rural network solutions, RuralStar, RuralStar Lite, and RuralStar Pro, guarantee profitable deployment in different rural network scenarios. Since 2017, when the first RuralStar solution was launched, the RuralStar series has been deployed in over 50 countries, providing connectivity to more than 40 million people worldwide.

Huawei’s next-generation 5G Easy Macro won the iF DESIGN AWARD at the 2020 iF International Industrial Design Forum with its innovative design, ergonomic man-machine interaction, efficient heat dissipation, and fast installation.

The next-generation 5G Easy Macro was released in October 2019 at the Global Mobile Broadband Forum in Switzerland. It is the industry’s first pole-site solution that supports both 5G NR and 4G LTE. In the evolution of product design, the 5G Easy Macro adopts an appealing cylindrical shape and a matt surface finish. It is generally mounted on street lamp poles, utility poles, and exterior walls of buildings, making it blend in well with the surrounding environment and simplifying site acquisition. The ergonomic handle, smart bracket, and tool-free maintenance cavity ensure safe and fast deployment and maintenance, improving base station deployment efficiency.

Huawei 5G Easy Macro supports both LTE FDD 4T4R and 5G NR 8T8R. It is a compact and lightweight product that features multiple frequency bands, high power, and high performance, enabling operators to utilize lightweight site resources such as street lamp poles to quickly deploy 5G networks everywhere.

Ma Hongbo, President of Huawei’s SingleRAN Product Line, said, “The iF DESIGN AWARD shows recognition by international design experts for Huawei’s innovative design concepts and demonstrates Huawei’s strength in industrial design and technological innovation of wireless base stations. Huawei’s Easy Macro series solutions are designed to help operators quickly deploy 5G networks at lower costs by leveraging the large pool of resources enabled by pole-mounted deployment.”

The iF DESIGN AWARD is one of the most prestigious design awards in the world. Since its establishment in 1953, the award has been recognized as a global benchmark for excellence in design. Huawei 5G Easy Macro won over the 78-member jury, made up of independent experts from all over the world, among 7,298 entries from 56 countries in the intense competition. Award winners are finalized based on design, experience and other aspects through rigorous procedures.

Finding new and meaningful ways to engage readers is a hot topic for news organizations of any size, and the first Google News Initiative (GNI) Innovation Challenge for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa prompted a myriad of different approaches. The GNI Innovation Challenges, part of Google’s $300 million commitment to help journalism thrive in the digital age, saw news innovators step forward with new thinking. In South Africa, Daily Maverick proposed a “relevancy engine” that would aggregate data feeds about reader behavior for small and medium publishers. In Jordan, podcast startup Sowt looked to tackle the challenge with a new hosting platform for news podcasts.

They launched the Middle East, Turkey and Africa Innovation Challenge last June, and received 527 applications from 35 countries. After a rigorous review, a round of interviews and a final jury selection process, Google selected 21 projects from 13 countries to receive $1.93 million in funding.

The call for applications listed four criteria: impact, feasibility, innovation and inspiration, and the successful projects clearly demonstrated all four. Here are just a few of the awardees:

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  Demirören Teknoloji Anonim Şirketi in Turkey wants to solve the tagging process for the Turkish language to help with the news discovery distribution process. Currently this work requires cumbersome manual work from their journalists, taking a precious share of their time. 

• Daily news publisher Israel Hayom will be creating a loyalty scheme where online users get real-life rewards in the form of tickets or money-saving offers. 
• Nas News wants to engage Iraq’s citizens in video debates for positive change with a mobile-first social and news platform that allows users to read and debate on local and national topics.
• L’Orient le Jour in Lebanon wants to build a new loyalty plan to offer special and personalized privileges to subscribers via an interactive platform.
• The National in the UAE will develop a service that converts quality text news into audio in real time, in both English and Arabic.
• Ringier Africa Digital Publishing in Nigeria will be increasing personalization across their platform using a blend of prediction, recommendation and local information pages to increase user engagement.

A second round of the Middle East, Turkey and Africa Innovation Challenge will open for applications later in the year.

Source: Google Blog