Huawei’s iFTTR OptiXstar F50 has won the prestigious “Leading In-Home Wi-Fi Service” award at the 2024 Broadband World Forum (BBWF) in Paris. This accolade marks the sixth consecutive broadband industry award for Huawei since 2019, reflecting the company’s continued leadership in the development of Fibre to the Room (FTTR) technology.
As the latest innovation in Huawei’s FTTR portfolio, the OptiXstar F50 represents a new generation of all-optical smart home products, combining advanced Wi-Fi 7 technology with distributed artificial intelligence (AI) to provide superior in-home connectivity. The product’s success at the BBWF highlights the industry’s recognition of Huawei’s innovations in the FTTR+X space, further cementing its status as a pioneer in smart home networking.
The OptiXstar F50, launched as Huawei’s fourth-generation FTTR product, has already shipped more than one million units, solidifying its place as a key player in the home broadband market. It is built on Huawei’s “1+4+N” architecture, which integrates a smart home hub (“1”), four key capabilities (“4”), and a range of converged smart home services (“N”). This framework enables enhanced home connectivity, providing users with a carrier-grade Wi-Fi experience, reduced latency, and seamless smart home management.
The core capabilities of the OptiXstar F50 include Wi-Fi awareness, cloud and local storage integration, dedicated AI-powered computing, and HarmonyOS-powered smart home control. These features are designed to offer users a smarter, more efficient home network, enabling the convergence of various smart home applications, from AI-assisted storage to home security and health monitoring.
Huawei has been a leader in FTTR development since it introduced the industry’s first FTTR product in 2020. The latest iteration, the OptiXstar F50, is designed to make Wi-Fi 7 technology more accessible to consumers. With over one million units sold, the device supports high-speed networking for up to 256 devices, enabling whole-home Wi-Fi coverage of 2,000 Mbps. The innovative optical and Wi-Fi converged architecture ensures reliable, high-speed internet without the interruptions commonly associated with legacy systems.
The F50 also delivers an upgrade in user experience, with the ability to virtualise the entire Wi-Fi network into a super hotspot. It uses advanced clock synchronisation technology to reduce roaming latency to just 10 milliseconds, virtually eliminating packet loss during device movement around the home. Huawei’s commitment to quality is further underlined by the F50’s certification from the World WLAN Application Development Alliance (WAA), confirming its high standards for in-home Wi-Fi performance.
Another standout feature is the F50’s ability to integrate with existing smart home infrastructure. Through hardware and AI-driven solutions, the F50 enables seamless cloud storage services, mobile integration, and enhanced IoT security. The product is designed to cater to the demands of the Internet of Everything (IoE) era, acting as the core hub for smart home ecosystems.
Huawei’s innovations extend to installation services as well. The F50 features a unique self-bonding transparent cable that can be quickly deployed, reducing the installation time per data point to just 15 minutes. The option for user self-installation further cuts costs for operators and streamlines the deployment process.
As the world transitions to an increasingly connected and intelligent future, Huawei continues to lead in FTTR research and development. By focusing on its “1+4+N” strategy, Huawei aims to help operators build next-generation smart home networks, improve user experiences, and accelerate the shift towards a more intelligent, interconnected world.
