Pegatron Pushes 'IQ Era' at MWC

Pegatron's "IQ Era" is built on a strategic pivot towards Open RAN solutions, positioning the company to capitalize on the industry's shift to disaggregated and intelligent radio access networks. The company is showcasing a full spectrum of Open RAN-compliant hardware, including its PR2850 8T8R macro radio and solutions for Massive MIMO, demonstrating a clear intent to compete in both private and public 5G infrastructure markets. This strategy aligns with broader industry trends where vendors like Samsung, Ericsson, and Nokia are also heavily investing in Open RAN and AI-driven network automation. A key element of Pegatron's MWC showcase is the debut of its AI-RAN vision, which embeds intelligence directly into the O-RAN architecture. This is complemented by proprietary interference mitigation technology designed to ensure stable, low-latency communication in dense industrial or medical settings. This move reflects the ongoing work within standards bodies like 3GPP, which began formally integrating AI/ML into the 5G system architecture in Release 18 to enhance functions like beam management and positioning. The company's strategy is heavily reliant on a robust ecosystem of partners, including Intel, Nokia, and Radisys, to ensure interoperability and performance. This collaborative approach is critical in the Open RAN environment and follows Pegatron's recent history of partnerships, such as the MoU with Tech Mahindra at MWC 2024 to develop AI-enabled private 5G solutions for enterprises. These alliances are crucial for navigating the complex integration challenges inherent in multi-vendor network deployments. Pegatron's focus on private networks is a cornerstone of its 5G strategy, with real-world deployments like the 5G smart factory in Vietnam with Viettel serving as a proof of concept. At MWC, the company is featuring its PS2400 "network-in-a-box," a portable unit integrating the 5G Radio, DU, CU, and Core Network for rapid deployment in emergency or remote scenarios. This addresses a growing enterprise demand for dedicated, localized 5G capabilities. The push towards an "IQ Era" is unfolding within a complex geopolitical landscape where the US, EU, and China are competing to shape global technology standards. As control over AI and 5G/6G becomes a matter of strategic national interest, the development of open, interoperable standards like O-RAN intersects with policies on digital sovereignty and concerns over technological dependencies. Standardization bodies are actively working to create frameworks for AI-native networks. The ITU-T's Focus Group on AI Native for Telecommunication Networks (FG-AINN), for example, is defining the architectural shifts required to embed intelligence at the core of future networks, moving beyond simply integrating AI as an add-on. Similarly, 3GPP's SA5 working group is focused on creating a domain-agnostic management and orchestration framework to support the full lifecycle of AI/ML workflows in 5G systems.