Digital transformation is the only way for today's enterprises to strengthen their fundamental changes and enhance their competitiveness. Since 2020, the continued spread of COVID-19 worldwide has also accelerated the digitalization and digital transformation in all walks of life.

In the wave of digital transformation, new technologies such as mobile 5G will play key enabling roles. With high-speed, low-latency and huge-connections capability, the Always Broadband Connected infrastructure is constructed by 5G technologies for future digital transformation. By integrating Artificial Intelligence, Big data, Cloud and IoT smart networking together, 5G networks will enable the smart living and digital economic development.

Chunghwa Telecom actively promotes the development of 5G forward-looking infrastructures and applications, linking together corporations and organizations from the government, academia, and research sectors to form "Taiwan 5G Alliance - CHT Pilot Team" to actively seize the opportunities for industrial transformation in Taiwan, and make Taiwan an important position in the global 5G and digital transformation value chain.

The global spread of new Coronaviruses (COVID-19) since 2020 has a profound and serious impact on the global economy. Enterprises lacking sufficient digital capability may suffer the risks such as supply chain disruption, customer churn and operation shutdown due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and thus it reveals the importance of digital transformation for today's enterprises to strengthen their physique and enhance their competitiveness.

Driven by the demand for digital transformation and mobile 5G technologies, Chunghwa Telecom is fully devoted to building up the Always Broadband Connected infrastructure, including 5G network, edge computing (MEC), software defined network (SDN), network cloud (Cloud), network function virtualization (NFV) and information security. 

Chunghwa Telecom has also constructed a technology-driven enabling platform, utilized Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Cloud technologies, and has cooperated with domestic and foreign alliances to leverage the 5G integration and innovative applications deploying 5G/4G/Wi-Fi and fiber networks island-wide. Chunghwa Telecom looks forward to becoming a "Smart life leader and digital economy enabler".

Figure 1: Chunghwa Telecom is aggressively promoting 5G applications in 7 main areas.
 

Chunghwa Telecom has aggressively promoted 5G applications in seven main areas since June 2020, including smart factory, AR applications, smart transportation, smart rescue/remote care, smart inspection, smart meters and audio applications (as shown in Figure 1). Taking 5G enterprise applications as examples, smart factory applications will improve manufacturing and operational efficiency. For instance: 

(1) Automated Optical Inspection (AOI), through 5G high data rate and low latency capability, high-resolution images of components can be delivered and analyzed during the process. By introducing 5G applications, the detection accuracy and production capacity can be improved significantly. 

(2) Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) can achieve stable logistics handling work and effectively improve production capacity, through the 5G link to control a mobile robot. 

(3) Enterprise users can operate machines while wearing augmented reality (AR) glasses to get instructions from remote experts in real time via 5G AR video collaboration applications. By the approaches, enterprise can improve operation efficiency and keep the interactive records as the internal training materials with security. 

(4) Smart factory, Chunghwa Telecom has also worked with Qualcomm, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) and other companies to build the world's first mmWave smart factory and apply 5G broadband features to smart factory fields.

In addition, Smart inspection and smart transportation are another two important applications for mobile 5G in public services. Taking drone inspection as an example, through 5G high data rate and low latency, the real-time scene image and data can be delivered and analyzed in the operation center; it provides decision-making information and effectively reduces personnel risk. Smart transportation utilizes 4G, 5G and C-V2X (Cellular Vehicle-to-everything) technologies to make vehicles, pedestrians and road-side traffic linked and coordinated together, improving road safety.

Figure 2: Chunghwa Telecom is building up a 5G network with 3.5GHz and 2.1GHz frequency bands to fully meet the demands of capacity and coverage.

Chunghwa Telecom has aggressively built up a 5G network with 3.5GHz and 2.1GHz frequency bands utilizing the advantages of high frequency band and low frequency band to fully meet the demands of capacity and coverage and to achieve the best coverage in the shortest time (as shown in Figure 2). 

Recently, the new technology trend for open radio access network (Open RAN) has attracted much attention from the telecommunication industry and operators for reducing network investment cost and increasing innovation opportunities. Chunghwa Telecom also takes the chance and actively participates in Open RAN research and related activities, such as equipment white boxing, network clouding, software virtualizing and other efforts to achieve network operations which are more intelligent and which promote operation technology, information technology and communication technology to comply with global trends. Furthermore, Chunghwa Telecom has cooperated with domestic O-RAN equipment manufacturers and demonstrated the application of a 5G intelligent network controller in IEEE GLOBECOM 2020, which can dynamically dispatch 5G link resources and enhance the user service experience.

The science and technology applications have achieved significant contributions and accomplishments in Taiwan’s COVID-19 pandemic prevention. In the post COVID-19 era, the gradual popularization of 5G will cater to the change of zero-contact life patterns and lead to industrial transformation. Taiwan not only has strengths from the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry, but also has a great geographical advantage under the influence of the US-China trade war. In the wave of science and technology and geographical advantages of the dual trends, Taiwan will usher in the best decade. Chunghwa Telecom will work and cooperate with domestic industries to develop more intelligent solutions to promote domestic industrial upgrading and digital transformation, and enable new opportunities in the international markets.