CMG, in partnership with China Mobile and ZTE, advances 5G-A 4K wireless live broadcasting at the 2025 Spring Festival Gala

• CMG, China Mobile, and ZTE scaled up 5G-A at the 2025 Spring Festival Gala, building on last year's success
• ZTE's 5G-A solution enables a stable Spring Festival Gala broadcast with expanded 4K camera coverage, range, and duration

Beijing, China, 7 February 2025 – ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a global leading provider of integrated information and communication technology solutions, together with China Media Group (CMG) and China Mobile, ensured a seamless live broadcast of the 2025 Spring Festival Gala and related programs with 5G-A wireless technology.

CMG, in collaboration with China Mobile and ZTE, has once again pushed the boundaries of live television broadcasting at the 2025 Spring Festival Gala. Building on the successful implementation of the innovative "5G-A 4K Shallow-Compression Wireless Broadcasting" technology, this year's gala featured an expanded deployment, delivering an even more immersive viewing experience.

Celebrating the Year of the Snake, the gala seamlessly blended China's rich cultural heritage with state-of-the-art broadcast technology. In a landmark collaboration, CMG partnered with industry leaders China Mobile and ZTE to refine and expand the technology, enabling robust wireless 4K camera coverage across both studio and on-location settings. This enhanced system provided audiences with unprecedented multi-angle, behind-the-scenes access, reinforcing the gala's reputation for innovation and excellence.

Advancing 4K wireless live broadcast technology

Since its inception in 1983, the Spring Festival Gala has chronicled China's remarkable journey through periods of transformation. This year, the gala not only celebrated this legacy but also showcased significant advancements in 5G-A 4K wireless broadcasting. The breakthrough was driven by two key factors:

Enhanced creative innovation: Building on previous success, the expanded deployment now delivers even more dynamic, multi-dimensional coverage, meeting growing audience expectations for immersive, real-time experiences.

Technological maturation: The evolution of 5G-A wireless mobile broadcasting has enabled ultra-high reliability and image quality that rivals traditional wired systems, while ensuring secure, uninterrupted transmission.

Utilizing shallow compression codec technology at transmission rates of up to 880 Mbps per camera, the 2025 Spring Festival Gala marked a significant leap forward, demonstrating the technology's scalability and capacity to deliver high-fidelity live coverage in real-time.

Superior performance breakthrough with a dedicated 5G-A private network

This year's enhanced deployment was supported by a dedicated 5G-A private network, built on ZTE's distributed micro-stations. Achieving uplink speeds of up to 2 Gbps per camera, the network enabled seamless camera mobility throughout the venue. ZTE's proprietary 5G-A SuperMIMO technology and AI-enhanced beam tracking ensured uninterrupted streaming even during high-mobility camera movements, facilitating real-time local editing of 4K video streamed directly to the broadcasting studio.

The network's ultra-low latency—averaging 4 ms at the air interface and less than 100 ms end-to-end, including encoding and decoding—ensured secure and efficient transmission. The system also seamlessly integrated wireless and wired setups, delivering a synchronized live broadcast for top-tier production quality.

Expanding coverage to every corner

The 5G-A network not only enhanced coverage within the main studio but also extended its reach to surrounding areas. Multiple channels benefited from the system's stable performance during interviews and live segments. The technical team and directors praised the exceptional mobility, reliability, and overall performance of the wireless transmission, while audiences enjoyed a more immersive and dynamic presentation.

By seamlessly integrating cutting-edge technology with cultural heritage, CMG, in partnership with China Mobile and ZTE, has set a new benchmark in live broadcasting. The enhanced 5G-A 4K wireless broadcasting system at the 2025 Spring Festival Gala not only showcases the evolution of this technology but also paves the way for future innovations in the media landscape.