An interview with Li Xiaotong, Vice President of ZTE Company
Within the quickly evolving panorama of telecommunications, we stand on the threshold of a transformative period the place synthetic intelligence and 5G-Superior applied sciences are converging to reshape the very basis of community infrastructure. Because the business transitions from the standard cell web period to what many are calling the Cell AI period, we had the chance to have interaction with Li Xiaotong, Vice President of ZTE Company and Common Supervisor of RAN Merchandise, to discover how these revolutionary forces are driving innovation and redefining the position of communication networks.
From connection pipes to clever engines
“We’re witnessing a basic shift in how we conceptualize community infrastructure,” Li begins, setting the stage for our dialogue. “Simply because the Renaissance interval in Italy redefined artwork and science, right this moment’s Cell AI period is redefining the position of communication networks. Networks are now not merely pipes for information transmission—they’re changing into clever engines able to understanding, predicting, and adapting to consumer wants in real-time.”
This transformation is pushed by profound adjustments in site visitors patterns that few within the business absolutely grasp but. “Whereas generative AI at the moment represents solely a fraction of whole community site visitors, its affect on community structure is disproportionately important,” Li observes. “AI interactions essentially alter the standard 90-10 downlink-uplink ratio. We’re seeing AI purposes generate 26% uplink site visitors in comparison with conventional apps’ 10%—a shift that requires utterly rethinking community design ideas.”
Li anticipates the explosive progress in AI Agent purposes, creating what he phrases “a brand new site visitors taxonomy”. Conventional architectures ought to evolve to accommodate AI brokers producing vastly elevated interplay volumes, with unprecedented calls for for each uplink capability and deterministic latency.
AIR RAN: Intent-driven intelligence at scale
When requested about ZTE’s response to those rising challenges, Li introduces us to AIR (AI Reshaped RAN) RAN—ZTE’s groundbreaking resolution for the Cell AI period. “The business talks about ‘AI-assisted’ networks, however we realized this strategy was essentially inadequate,” Li explains. “True transformation requires ‘AI-native’ structure the place intelligence is embedded within the community’s DNA, not merely layered on prime.”
AIR RAN represents a paradigm shift to what Li calls “intent-driven clever service fashions.” Not like rule-based programs that react to predefined situations, AIR RAN interprets high-level intentions and dynamically orchestrates sources throughout time, frequency, spatial, and energy domains. “We focus AI deployment exactly the place non-linear complexity calls for it most—in sign variations, site visitors fluctuations, and dynamic radio surroundings adjustments,” Li explains.
The technical basis lies in ZTE’s SoC accelerator and heterogeneous computing structure, which allows the business’s first native-AI BBU. The industrial deployments of native-AI BBU validate this strategy: video service high quality points decreased by 80%, dwell streaming uplink charges enhanced by over 20%, gaming latency optimized by 18%, and 5G base station day by day vitality consumption decreased by greater than 12%.
Reworking enterprise fashions: From site visitors to expertise
The dialog naturally turns to the industrial implications of those technological advances. Li emphasizes how AIR RAN is enabling a basic transformation in operator enterprise fashions—from site visitors monetization to expertise monetization.
“The standard telecom income mannequin is hitting a wall,” Li states candidly. “Operators right this moment face a crucial problem: rising site visitors with out matching income features. To beat this, they have to shift to experience-driven worth propositions, prioritizing consumer satisfaction and progressive service fashions.”
ZTE’s strategy facilities on three strategic pillars that Li believes will outline the subsequent decade of telecom economics. First, expertise assurance via what he phrases “precision networking”—exact allocation, notion, and analysis creating closed-loop optimization. Second, multi-dimensional effectivity enhancements spanning spectral, vitality, and operational domains. Third, value-based consumer segmentation enabling differentiated service supply.
“AIR RAN’s strategic benefit facilities on its skill to determine and assure high-value situations whereas optimizing total community efficiency,” Li explains. “This allows operators to maneuver past commodity connectivity towards premium expertise providers—very like how cloud suppliers developed from promoting compute cycles to promoting enterprise outcomes.”
Pioneering AI-driven enterprise alternatives
Trying forward, Li views AI Agent providers as a game-changing alternative. “With digital assistants and autonomous programs changing into ubiquitous, networks should evolve to ship predictable, high-performance connectivity for each human customers and AI brokers concurrently. Our AgentGuard resolution rises to this problem, enabling operators to offer premium experiences and unlock new income streams via optimized useful resource allocation and clever service assurance.”
As demonstrated at MWC Shanghai 2025, ZTE showcased AgentGuard’s prowess in dealing with complicated AI duties—corresponding to ordering espresso and posting social media opinions with a single voice command. This innovation drives the community’s transformation from mere “connection pipes” to dynamic “clever engines,” adapting to the shifting calls for of AI-driven companies, together with larger uplink site visitors and deterministic latency necessities.
Innovation philosophy and ecosystem pondering
When discussing ZTE’s place within the international market, Li emphasizes sensible innovation over ubiquitous deployment. “The business usually errors AI proliferation for AI effectiveness,” he notes. “True worth lies in exact utility the place it issues most—fixing actual issues reasonably than demonstrating technical functionality.”
This philosophy extends to ZTE’s ecosystem strategy. “Innovation emerges from deep collaboration throughout industries,” Li observes. “When our applied sciences span telecommunications to manufacturing to city infrastructure, we achieve distinctive insights into how AI and 5G-A create sudden worth throughout various situations. This cross-pollination drives breakthrough pondering.”
Sustainable innovation and accountable AI
Sustainability and ethics stay central to ZTE’s innovation philosophy, although Li approaches these subjects with attribute pragmatism. “Vitality effectivity is now not simply an environmental concern—it’s a crucial aggressive think about community economics,” he asserts. “Operators can not obtain sustainable enterprise fashions with unsustainable vitality consumption.”
ZTE’s strategy combines {hardware} improvements reaching as much as 35% energy discount with complete AI governance frameworks. “As AI turns into extra pervasive in community infrastructure, we should guarantee it operates with transparency, safety, and correct oversight,” Li emphasizes. “Our AI programs incorporate built-in safeguards and human oversight mechanisms as a result of reliable AI requires each technical functionality and moral basis.”
Conclusion
As our dialog attracts to an in depth, Li shares his imaginative and prescient for the telecommunications future with measured optimism. “We’re coming into an period the place networks join not simply folks to folks, however folks to AI and AI to AI,” he displays. “5G-A supplies the inspiration for AI-native networks, however success requires specializing in rapid worth creation reasonably than distant potentialities.”
By means of options like AIR RAN and AgentGuard, ZTE is actively shaping the transformation from connection pipes to clever engines—a journey that embodies how networks can serve humanity in an more and more AI-driven world. “Expertise’s true worth lies in enhancing human expertise,” Li concludes. “This precept guides every little thing we do.”
This interview was performed throughout ZTE’s 5G Congress and Person Convention 2025, the place the corporate showcased its newest improvements in Cell AI, 5G and 5G-Superior applied sciences to European companions and prospects.
