Maxis has signed a collaboration agreement with Huawei with the intent to accelerate 5G adoption in Malaysia, through end-to-end systems trials and services.
Co-signed by Gokhan Ogut, CEO-designate and Morten Bangsgaard, CTO of Maxis and Huawei’s rotating chairman, Guo Ping, its president of Southern Pacific Region, Jeffery Liu and its CEO of Malaysia, Michael Yuan.
“Maxis has long started its 5G journey, and we are already focusing on live trials, investments and evolving our network infrastructure to be ready for a future where smart solutions will be part of everyday life,” said Ogut.
“We are pleased to be working with world class technology leader and long term partner Huawei on our 5G trials, and to be a pioneer in bringing the latest technologies to Malaysia once again.
“At Maxis, we have been maintaining our network leadership in terms of speed, quality and performance in Malaysia, and we look forward to delivering the best 5G innovation for both consumers and businesses for the future."
5G telecommunications technology has the benefits of not just a higher data rate compared to previously generations but also a much reduced latency, energy savings, cost reduction and a higher system capacity and the ability to facility a greater number of connected devices on the network without a reduction in performance.
It is the low latency element of 5G technology that advocates see as enabling many of the technology’s advanced applications, including its use in autonomous vehicles and drones, advanced mobile AR/VR applications, and advanced tele-health and monitoring applications.
While development is ongoing, the first phase of the 5G specification, Release-15, was finalised in 2018, paving the way to commercial deployment. A further second phase, Release-16, is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.
It’s this final release, Release-16, which will enable many of 5G’s most promising applications.
“We would like to thank Maxis for years of trust and support,” said Yuan. “The development of 5G needs the cooperation of all different partners, working together to innovate together.
“We are very happy to sign this MoU with Maxis, which shows the commitment of both companies to the future of 5G in Malaysia.
"As a leading global provider of ICT infrastructure, Huawei is committed to helping Maxis to expand the boundaries of their business and find paths to new growth with our full-series, all-scenario simplified 5G products.
“We have signed over 30 commercial contracts as of now and shipped more than 40,000 5G base stations across Europe, Asia and the Middle East."
Huawei has been embroiled in a legal tussle with the US over suspected involvement in spying for the Chinese government, which the organisation denies and so far without evidence.
However, despite this, some European partners of the US have cut back their use of Huawei’s technology in their key infrastructure. In Southeast, however, governments such as Indonesia and Malaysia have continued its use with no known plans on cutting back.
