Boosting Digital Economy Development in Wuhan with Ultimate Service

Wuhan, often referred to as the “Gateway to Nine Provinces”, holds a significant place in Chinese history. Its glorious past has given rise to the spirit of the new era in Wuhan, characterized by a commitment to innovation and excellence. This spirit not only upholds Wuhan’s historical legacy but also reflects the aspirations and ambitions of the people of Wuhan for future development. As the cornerstone of the digital economy, Wuhan’s communication networks have witnessed rapid growth. ZTE has been working with operators in Wuhan in various aspects such as network quality enhancement, network expansion, network innovation, and industry applications. This collaborative effort aims to increase network deployment and operation efficiency, improving network quality and user experience.

Ultimate Service Boosts Network Quality

ZTE continues its in-depth cooperation with network operators in the Hubei region of China, centered on the user’s perspective, jointly driving network quality improvement. In recent years, it has achieved outstanding results in tests conducted by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and network evaluations by network operators.

ZTE has assisted Hubei Mobile in prioritizing user experience and leveraging the network profiling system to enhance network quality. In 2022, the number of complaint tickets in ZTE service area decreased by 20% year-on-year, leading to a significant improvement in network quality.

ZTE has worked with Hubei Telecom to launch the VoNR optimization service, introducing its in-house VoNR EMI voice evaluation system. This system enables voice quality evaluation and optimization at the cell, CDR and slice levels on the network geolocation insight (NGI) platform. It facilitates rapid convergence and closed-loop of network problems, aiming to create an ultimate 5G voice experience.

Digital Transformation Accelerates Upgrade to Autonomous Networks

The digitalization of the economy and society, along with the high-quality development of the information and communications industry, is propelling the digital transformation of the telecom sector. ZTE actively cooperates with telecom operators to jointly promote their transformation to autonomous networks.

• ZTE partners with three major operators in Wuhan to implement precise 5G planning and improve user experience through innovative NGI applications. It makes grid-level or building-level 5G coverage evaluation based on NGI, performs value evaluation based on complaint scenarios of traffic terminals, and obtains multi-dimensional building-level profiles. This approach focuses on residential areas, identifying high-value residential zones and providing guidance for the application of scenario-based solutions.
• ZTE's alarm automation expert/equipment fault protection (AAX/EFP) interfaces with Hubei Mobile’s dual-platform production system, facilitating rapid enhancement of its automation capabilities. Leveraging the AAX and EFP intelligent O&M solution, ZTE implements seamless interconnection with Hubei Mobile’s centralized fault management system platform and automation platform for alarm root cause diagnosis and identification of base station potential faults. After interconnection, AAX achieves an accuracy of over 90% in locating front-line O&M service outage faults, resulting in a 30% improvement in fault location efficiency. EFP reduces the potential risk screening and handling process workflow by 45%, leading to a 43% increase in the average weekly handling of fault sites.
• ZTE's poor NQI cell analysis and RAIS interference analysis functions help Hubei Mobile improve efficiency and quality in multiple dimensions. The NQI tool is successfully interconnected with Hubei Mobile’s production system, and NQI analysis tasks are established to ensure a 100% match of performance tickets. Moreover, the system algorithm is used to improve the efficiency of both poor quality analysis and interference analysis.

Joint Innovation Maximizes Network Value

Considering the specific local network conditions and customer requirements in Wuhan, ZTE tailored its approach and planned nearly 20 innovative projects for operators in early 2022. Several key projects have been deployed in the production environment and are being continuously utilized.

• In scenic spots such as Donghu Meiyuan and Tan Hualin in Wuhan, ZTE assisted Hubei Mobile in creating an ultimate experience. Utilizing technologies such as 2.6G+4.9G carrier aggregation, it offers impressive speeds of 2 Gbps for downlink and 300 Mbps for uplink.
• ZTE assisted Hubei Mobile in leveraging the automatic AAPC weight optimization function to automate network weight optimization in scenarios involving overlap coverage and out-of-service compensation. Through statistical estimation of cell UE distribution and neighbor cell interference by eNodeB, the solution comprehensively considers network coverage performance to achieve adaptive adjustments. Additionally, it helps eNodeB intelligently estimate optimal broadcast weights, thus achieving optimal coverage.
• In certain university scenarios in Wuhan, ZTE helped Hubei Telecom deploy the tidal AAPC function on a large scale to address a variety of coverage scenarios. This ensures adaptive and flexible adjustment of broadcast weights. Through fast and intelligent network planning and optimization, it minimizes network deployment time and human resources, resulting in optimal coverage and performance gains across different scenarios.  
• ZTE helped Hubei Telecom take the lead to launch the innovative 5G AAU automatic start/stop energy-saving solution, minimizing the energy consumption of an inactive AAU to less than 5W in a zero-traffic status. This initiative has been put into commercial use on a large scale in Wuhan, providing full support to Hubei Telecom’s efforts to promote low-carbon operation of its communication infrastructure. While guaranteeing network performance and user experience, it  maximizes the reduction of energy consumption and emissions.

5G+ Applications Create a Fresh Engine for Industrial Development

Since 2020, the 5G+ Industrial Internet Conference sponsored by MIIT and the Hubei Provincial Government, has been held consecutively in Wuhan for three years. Hubei is actively promoting the development of 5G+ applications to enhance the modernization of the industrial chain. ZTE is fully cooperating with operators to drive the digitalization upgrade across various industries.

• ZTE partners with Hubei Mobile to build an intelligent 5G+ optical cable manufacturing factory in Wuhan, achieving full 5G coverage throughout the factory campus. Leveraging the functionalities of 5G+ automatic logistics, 5G+ monitoring platforms, and 5G+ energy consumption data collection, while ensuring that all factory data remains within the campus, ZTE implements remote real-time visualization of production, comprehensive monitoring of the entire production process, and intelligent energy-efficient manufacturing. This drives the digital transformation and upgrading of the enterprise.
• ZTE collaborates with Hubei Mobile to empower the pharmaceutical industry in Wuhan by building a 5G fully-connected traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) production line. Through cutting-edge technologies such as 5G, edge computing, and digital twin, ZTE provides an exclusive 5G private network with full coverage for the production campus, creating a virtual factory. It offers industrial internet applications like automated guided vehicles (AGVs), 5G data acquisition systems, and remote integrated control, enabling visualized and intelligent management. As a result, production efficiency has seen a remarkable increase of over 30%.
• ZTE works with Hubei Unicom in Wuhan to commercialize FRER functions extensively based on its edge computing gateway (SmartEdge) and computing base station (NodeEngine). This advancement has significantly increased the proportion of data with a latency of less than 20 ms on FRER channels to 99.99%. This represents a two-nines increase in reliability compared to the single-frequency solution, thereby helping enterprises achieve unmanned on-site driving operations.

In China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, several crucial directives have been outlined. These include accelerating the large-scale deployment of 5G networks, elevating the standard of telecom equipment, core electronic components, and key software industries, building 5G-based application scenarios and industrial ecosystems, and promoting the efficiency enhancement of emerging sectors like 5G and big data centers. These requirements provide clear guidance for the future of various industries. ZTE will continue to work closely with operators worldwide to build robust networks, explore opportunities for new growth, and contribute to creating a favorable business environment for the booming development of Wuhan’s digital economy.