China’s ZTE is betting on popularity of virtual reality and high definition videos

Chinese telecom equipment company ZTE is betting big on the popularity of virtual reality and high definition videos with its new “big video” solution, which will allow consumers to quickly stream high capacity videos via mobile networks on a variety of devices.

Dubbed the Big Video 4K+ solution, ZTE said it is targeted at mobile operators that have to constantly improve their networks to handle the technology challenges that come with increasing mobile video traffic.

Launched at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2016 on Wednesday, the Big Video 4K+ solution consists of smart hardware devices such as set-top boxes and VR video-compatible smartphones, a network solution that supports higher bandwidth with low latency, and an evaluation system that assesses users’ video experience via big data.

ZTE will also work with content partners to provide mobile operators with high definition 4K, 8K, virtual reality and augmented reality videos for users.

Consumers’ rising appetite for video, driven in part by IPTV and on-demand videos from over-the-top (OTT) providers, has led to a sharp rise in data traffic. A mobile economy report by the GSM Association reported that video data traffic from China already accounts for more than half of China’s mobile data traffic, and Cisco forecasted that by 2020, 82 per cent of all consumer internet traffic will come from video.

According to Xiang Jiying, ZTE’s chief scientist, virtual reality videos will gain in popularity over the next few years. The upcoming 5G network, which is expected to commercially roll out in 2020, will play an important role in supporting the resulting increase in data traffic, said Xiang.