Huawei in move to gain 5G edge

A logo of Huawei is seen at a store in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Jan 19, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, China's largest telecoms equipment maker, plans to unveil its first batch of 5G-ready products next year, as it strives to gain an edge in the race toward the next-generation mobile communication technology, local media reported.

The Shenzhen-based company said that as the world moves closer to a consensus on 5G standards, it will start shipping 5G products in 2019, according to a report on qq.com, a news portal owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Xu Wenwei, strategic marketing president at Huawei, was quoted as saying that the company "will work with telecoms carriers to create new business models in the 5G era where all things can be connected to the internet".

Huawei did not respond to requests for comment.

In November, polar coding, a technology backed by Huawei, was approved as part of the global standard for 5G.

Lu Zhenwang, CEO of the Shanghai-based Wanqing Consultancy, said the 5G products Huawei plans to unveil next year are highly likely to be able to support the narrowband internet of things, or NB-IoT.

NB-IoT is a technology that enables faster internet connections among devices, but at lower costs than existing bluetooth and Wi-Fi technology.

"We will see a rapid application of NB-IoT technology in the next few years. Huawei will face mounting competition from ZTE Corp and Ericsson AB in this respect," he added.

Cheng Yu contributed to this story.