The impact of 5G

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How ASTRI and Hong Kong are changing the world with open 5G technology
When one hears of 5G technology, it’s natural to think of faster mobile phone speeds and blazingly quick movie downloads via WiFi.

With 5G, downloading an 8GB high-resolution movie will only take 4 seconds, compared with the 26 hours or 6 minutes at 3G and 4G speeds respectively.
Roundtrip Latency (μs)

But did you know that the consumer-facing mobile network accounts for just 10 per cent of what 5G is, much like how only a tenth of an iceberg is visible above water? The other 90 per cent of 5G applications is primarily in the industrial and business sectors.

Hong Kong may be known more as a global centre for banking and finance, but the special administrative region has also pioneered its own 5G technology, which has now been adopted by companies around the world.

In Hong Kong, the commercial availability of 5G, which offers high speeds, lower latency and fantastic connectivity, has amazing potential for business solutions.


And perhaps as importantly, the 5G evolution is also allowing for significant cost savings. ASTRI 5G’s technology and architecture solutions will help break the cost barrier that was previously in place due to how expensive traditional telecommunications equipment used to be. With this, businesses now have new opportunities to adopt affordable private network solutions in their operations.

ASTRI has been one of Hong Kong’s early movers,  in researching 5G equipment platforms and 5G commercial applications as far back as 2017 and bringing together more than a hundred communications and network technology experts to develop 5G platform technology and its applications.

Three things make ASTRI’s solution unique:
It is developed 100 per cent locally in Hong Kong, but can be adopted throughout markets all over the world; It uses O-RAN, an open network architecture platform that runs on standard configuration hardware to minimise cost and allow easy integration; The end-to-end solution covers core, base stations, terminals and all other parts to provide comprehensive and tailor-made applications

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Dr Eric Tsang, ASTRI’s Chief Technologist, Communication Technologies, said adopting the open platform would bring many benefits to enterprises.

“If large-scale network equipment providers use their own proprietary platform with their own software, it is not just costly but also gives little idea into how the base station is composed and operated,” he said.

“Our O-RAN open platform will not only allow customers to procure the most suitable and cost-effective solution from the market,

but also eases the worry of “over-reliance of an exclusive, proprietary solution.”

5G Standalone (SA) Solutions
Cloud Mobile Gaming
Enterprise Network
Connected Vehicle
Industrial Mobility

O-RAN is quickly gaining support to be an industry standard, which Eric said validated ASTRI’s decision to develop its O-RAN based 5G solution. He added that Hong Kong’s home-grown innovation was a catalyst to changing the landscape of the global communications industry.

But just what are the actual changes businesses can see through 5G networks? Well, applications range, among others, from autonomous vehicles to cloud-based mobile games to smart factories to long-distance medical procedures.

Eric said two leading corporations are already applying the O-RAN solution. One is Taiwanese IT giant, Foxconn, whose subsidiary, Foxconn Industrial Internet, developed an auto-guided vehicle (AGV) that uses camera images from an unmanned vehicle’s roof for instant positioning through private 5G network in order to direct the vehicle’s movement in factories.

Meanwhile, a mainland China-based game developer will use the 5G network for a cloud-based solution that will allow handsets to run hi-spec games without a sophisticated graphics processing unit (GPU), substantially enhancing the user experience and reducing battery usage.

But ASTRI’s efforts don’t end here. The organization is committed to continuing its efforts to promote 5G R&D in Hong Kong, and will use “5G HK” to attract corporations worldwide to become

allies and partners in promoting innovation and technology for a better Hong Kong.