Technology against Pandemic: Insights and Practice on Telecom Networks

At the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic started sweeping across the globe. Countries and regions started their fight against the outbreak. To date, this fight is still a tough one impacting the well-being of all mankind on this planet. The virus knows no borders, and it impacts everyone in the world. China, after its extraordinarily tough efforts to lock down cities and even the whole country, the outbreak is finally easing. Under the tremendous pressure, we are finally seeing of victory.

Looking back at what each country, especially China, went through in their adventurous combat against the pandemic, we see major changes in how societies operate, including how individuals, households, and companies behave. Offline economic activities stagnated due to isolation, families started taking on more functions, and masks became luxuries. People’s attention was drawn by the outbreak around the world, and they were deeply moved by those who worked on the frontline, most of them did not realize groups of obscure communications engineers were working side by side with the healthcare professionals.

Our peaceful life was actually the result of the efforts by those working on the frontline. Throughout the world, ICT infrastructure became a strategic cornerstone in this fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. It not only helped with the pandemic combat, but also undertook multiple times of economic activities and even social missions.

At this particular moment, Huawei analyzed the user behavior changes during the outbreak and the operators’ network traffic changes in major regions throughout the world. From a technical perspective and based on scenario-specific analyses, we are providing rational suggestions on future operator network development. We aim to help countries throughout the world to win the combat against the coronavirus and restore normal socio-economic activities as soon as possible.