China Mobile, Huawei, and Other Partners Set Up a 5G VoNR+ (New Calling) Working Group

At the World 5G Convention, China Mobile, together with Huawei and over 10 other partners, set up the 5G VoNR+ (New Calling) Working Group for the 5G Deterministic Networking Alliance (5GDNA). The Working Group provides the world’s first platform to facilitate 5G new calling industry collaboration and aims to promote VoNR+ new calling standards and technologies, boost its industry, and build an industry ecosystem. The conference was attended by Yang Zemin (Chairman of 5GDNA), Duan Xiaodong (Vice President of China Mobile Research Institute), Vincent Zhao (Vice President of Huawei Cloud Core Network Product Line), and representatives from UNISOC, HiScene, TD Tech, Ericsson, and HiSilicon.

Voice services provided by operators have always been the most reliable way to communicate. As 5G integrates with AR and VR technologies, new services such as visual menus, video RBT, and remote collaboration become available and give users more interactive experience. Not only this, these services unlock new opportunities for the emerging 5G market, and the 5G VoNR+ (New Calling) Working Group is anticipated to pilot the development of the 5G new calling market.

VoNR+ new calling will bring new communication experience to users and showcase the unique value of 5G. A typical application of VoNR+ new calling is remote collaboration. Remote collaboration allows guidance to be remotely provided through videos in real time. This valuable application is widely used in daily life, such as in elderly care, equipment repair, object searching, and child tutoring, and even may create a new industry. On top of this, users can use new calling services without needing to download any app.

For the entire voice industry, new calling services will help operators reshape their fundamental value and upgrade the provision of information for users. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the number of 5G terminal connections in China reached 365 million by the first half of 2021. This will stimulate a huge 5G new calling market.

The members of the Working Group have done a lot of technical standards research, commercial service verification, and other preparations in the early stage. In November 2020, China Mobile Research Institute worked with Huawei and other industry partners on releasing the 5G VoNR+ white paper. In the following month, China Mobile in Zhejiang launched the visual menu and video RBT services by using Huawei’s 5G new calling solution.

The 5G VoNR+ (New Calling) Working Group will use 5GDNA to provide a global platform for industry collaboration, channeling more industry partners to drive the widespread use of 5G new calling and bring 5G to more people.