At this years GSMA Thrive event, Huawei's Rotating Chairman Guo Ping delivered a keynote speech titled "5G in a post-pandemic world: Countdown to the digital blastoff".

In this speech, Guo Ping discussed the social value of ICT in combating COVID-19, as well as the practices and prospects of applying 5G in digital transformation for industries.

Guo Ping said, "With the help of 5G, industries are going digital at a faster pace. Next, we will work with our partners on industry applications to help our customers unleash the potential of 5G, generating the first round of dividends from major 5G applications."

GSMA Thrive is an online event, hosted by GSMA, which attracts the attention of many industry players and other online viewers.

Guo pointed out that during the pandemic, the social value of ICT applications has been greater than ever.

Applications developed on the basis of 5G, AI, cloud, and big data have played a significant role during the outbreak, for example, in remote education, telework, and entertainment. Such applications have enabled people to survive the dull quarantine at home. Remote consultation in field hospitals has solved the pain points of

temporary medical resources, and applications like temperature checks and pandemic tracking have effectively helped contain the spread of the virus. During the process, GSMA and telecom carriers worldwide have played a vital role in continuously unleashing the power of connectivity, helping people live healthily, and helping industries and society at large continuously recover.

Guo confirmed that Huawei will continuously support open and collaborative standards and industry organizations in their efforts to safeguard a unified global communications industry. Global collaboration is critical to successfully beating the virus, no matter whether it is in the medical or communications sector. Proactive participation, extensive consultations, and inclusive engagement of global vendors, research institutes, and industry associations will better facilitate the development of technology standards while promoting the sustainable development of industries and the global economy at large.

The 11 regulatory recommendations to sustain connectivity released by GSMA promote collaboration in combating the pandemic, and drive quicker responses and more efficient resource mobilization.

Guo expressed his belief that like electricity 100 years ago, ICT is extending to every industry on a large scale, becoming a key enabler of social development and generating multiple waves of technology dividends for all industries.

Today, 5G is developing very rapidly. There are already 81 commercial 5G networks worldwide, supporting 72% of the world's GDP and 9 million 5G users, and enabling all kinds of digital lifestyles.

With the help of 5G, many industries are rapidly going digital. 5G has been widely used in sectors like entertainment, business travel, medical services, mining, ports, and manufacturing.

Successful 5G applications are now being replicated at scale within industries. Leveraging its capabilities in domains like networks, cloud, AI, and devices.

Huawei will continue working with its partners to help customers unleash the amazing potential of 5G.