Huawei and China Mobile Shanghai will kick off construction of 5G networks at the Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station, paving the way for the world's first 5G railway that will feature indoor coverage.
According to CGTN, the partnership marks the debut of Huawei's highly anticipated 5G Digital Indoor System (DIS). The system will allow passengers to experience a variety of advanced technology services such as ultra-HD video calling while at the Shanghai station.
One of the activities that China's people can look forward to is watching movies on their phones or tablets. Once the installation of Huawei's 5G network is completed by the end of 2019, passengers can download high-definition films up to 2 gigabytes within 20 seconds.
The project promised that downloads can take place all at the same time. Due to the density of people who arrive at the Shanghai station daily, some passengers have complained of slow video loading and downloading. This problem will reportedly be solved by the upcoming DIS.
Reaching a reported peak of 1.2 gigabytes per second, the high-end 5G network is expected to allow a large number of people to perform downloads without causing speed issues. The Shanghai station sees over 300,000 people on a daily basis but Huawei's DIS will reportedly not have data congestion problems.
Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology, Zhang Jianming explained that the partnership will provide passengers with a whole new travel experience that only cutting-edge tech has to offer.
"The railway station will show how 5G applications can improve users' experience and offer real benefits to the public. It will help to speed up digital transformation for all sectors across the digital economy," Zhang said.
Chief Marketing Officer for Huawei Wireless Network Product Line, Peter Zhou echoed Zhang's comments about the project. He said future railway stations "may be more intelligent than we can possibly imagine."
The new deal was forged amidst Huawei's battle against the U.S. government after the latter called on its allies to ban any 5G collaborations with the Chinese tech giant. The United States claimed that the Honor creator's new network could pose security threats.
Despite U.S. claims about the network, local organizations and other countries have shown support for the Shenzhen-based innovation mammoth. One of them in Germany as a spokesperson for the European country's interior ministry said the German government has no plans yet to keep Huawei's 5G network out of its turf.
In an email to CNBC News, spokesperson for Germany's Federal Interior Ministry (BMI), Bjorn Grunewalder said the agency is not planning to block any 5G provider's plans in the country. He added that the group is instead focused on "adapting the necessary security requirements" to ensure that these networks are not some sort of a security threat.
