China Unicom and Huawei have deployed the world’s largest commercial MetaAAU network by setting up MetaAAUs at over 1,000 rural network sites in Beijing. This new network has already seen a 38 percent increase in traffic per site by improving 5G services in rural areas.
Huawei, the # telecom network supplier in the world, said that the MetaAAUs used by this network reduce site energy consumption by 5 percent under the same network load compared with previous-generation AAUs, bolstering network energy efficiency.

Huawei’s MetaAAUs feature new extreme-large antenna array (ELAA) architecture to double the scale of arrays compared with the previous-generation AAU. This innovation results in extended coverage because channel beams are narrower and energy is more focused.

The new architecture, combined with innovative algorithms, improves network performance while slashing energy consumption.

China Unicom has leveraged these advancements to hit its 2022 5G construction targets for small towns and rural areas. China Unicom Beijing deployed these MetaAAUs at over 1,000 sites in July in towns and rural areas including the Shunyi, Huairou, and Pinggu districts of Beijing.

Huawei said the MetaAAUs have delivered a 40 percent increase in coverage area, increased uplink and downlink user-perceived rates by 10 percent, and lowered network energy consumption by 5 percent over previous-generation AAUs, achieving optimal network performance and energy efficiency.

Since their deployment, user traffic has increased by 38 percent in their coverage areas and the carrier’s user base has increased by 37 percent.

“We are amazed how well MetaAAU is performing at the more than 1,000 sites on the commercial network, cementing its place in our digital village strategy. This achievement marks a key milestone in our 5G Capital project, and is a testament to our constant pursuit of a ubiquitous high-quality 5G network,” Fan Liqun, head of China Unicom Beijing’s 5G co-construction and sharing work team, said in a news statement.

“MetaAAU is one of our major innovations. With MetaAAU, we achieve great breakthroughs in network performance and energy efficiency, and this is attributed to our strong investment and continuous innovation in Massive MIMO,” Ritchie Peng, President of Huawei 5G Product Line, said.