Antenna size reduced by up to 90%! Huawei's multi-band multi-beam microwave solution goes commercial in Saudi Arabia: a world first.

Huawei officially announced that Saudi operator stc and Huawei have completed the world's first commercial deployment of the Multi-Band Multi-Beam (MB2) microwave solution in Riyadh.

With the large-scale construction of 5G in Saudi Arabia, base station density and mobile traffic continue to surge. Operators need to achieve multi-directional link transmission and expand backhaul bandwidth without increasing site complexity.

The MB2 solution is compatible with eight frequency bands: 13GHz, 15GHz, 18GHz, 23GHz, 26GHz, 28GHz, 32GHz, and 38GHz.

Additionally, a single MB2 antenna can support microwave link transmission in up to 10 different directions, reducing the number of antennas by up to 90%.

This solution significantly saves tower space, reduces tower load-bearing requirements, and lowers operator tower rental costs. The reduced antenna count also cuts installation and alignment workload, simplifies site deployment, and lowers total cost of ownership (TCO).

In this commercial project, Saudi stc, in collaboration with Huawei, achieved microwave link transmission in three directions for the first time. Compared to traditional solutions, the installation and commissioning time for adding the second and third link directions was reduced from 3 hours to 20 minutes.

Going forward, sites can expand to 10 transmission directions without adding new antenna equipment, adapting to the lightweight network deployment needs of future high-density 5G sites.

Currently, the MB2 solution operates stably in environments with temperatures up to 50°C and wind speeds of level 6.