In brief
China Unicom and Huawei say they provided 5G-A connectivity for the Beijing E-Town Half-Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon in Daxing District. The deployment supported event operations, media production and fan engagement, as well as robots competing alongside human runners. The companies report that the network achieved uplink fulfillment of 20 Mbps more than 99.6% of the time and a field-tested peak speed of 677 Mbps. They also used dedicated uplink network slices for the robots, which require bandwidth for video, sensing and navigation. The release says the setup supported positioning accuracy up to sub-decimeter level and average end-to-end latency below 30 ms. China Unicom and Huawei describe the event as an example of combining 5G-A and AI for sports and embodied AI applications.
Key takeaways
- China Unicom and Huawei provided 5G-A connectivity for the Beijing E-Town running events.
- The companies report 20 Mbps uplink fulfillment above 99.6% and a field-tested peak speed of 677 Mbps.
- Dedicated uplink slices supported robot video uploads, sensing, navigation and movement on the course.
- The release cites positioning accuracy up to sub-decimeter level and average latency below 30 ms.
BEIJING, CHINA - 20 April 2026 - China Unicom and Huawei capped off a series of successful 5G-A GigaUplink deployments by guaranteeing the premium connectivity at the Beijing E-Town Half-Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon, where human and robot runners competed alongside through the E-Town in Daxing District. This marks the two companies' latest landmark showcase for sports events, combining 5G-A and AI to provide fast uplink with huge capacity and low latency for event organization and media services, digital engagement, and humanoid participation.
China Unicom 5G-A empowering robots to sprint across the finish line
China Unicom Delivered a Masterclass in Connected Marathon Events
Marathon events typically feature high-density crowds with an extensive demand for uploads. China Unicom and Huawei turned to 5G-A 3CC on 3.5 GHz and 2.1 GHz for the event, ensuring an uplink fulfillment at 20 Mbps surpassing 99.6%, along with a peak speed of field-tested 677 Mbps. This impressive uplink performance provided consistent and reliable support for 4K/8K broadcasting and real-time collection and editing while also enabling fans to share and stream smoothly.
Such unrivalled experience is underpinned not only by high-quality networks but also flexible operations. China Unicom and Huawei used intelligent base stations to build 5G-A intelligent, elastic channels for the event. This facilitated differentiated scheduling for livestreaming, voice and video calling, and short videos to ensure smooth experiences for fans even at heavy-traffic moments.
China Unicom 5G-A GigaUplink networks integral to the success of E-Town Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon
5G-A GigaUplink Takes Embodied AI to New Heights
In a global first, the E-Town half-marathon features a pioneering format that sees human and robot runners compete simultaneously. The humanoid robots were divided into an autonomous navigation group and a remote-control group, running on the same course and evaluated using mixed timing methods. Each humanoid robot requires approximately 10 Mbps uplink for video uploads, environment sensing, gait control, and autonomous navigation. Dedicated uplink slices were reserved to ensure a positioning accuracy of up to sub-decimeter level and an average end-to-end latency of less than 30 ms throughout the racing course, which provided strong support for the video uploads, obstacle avoidance, cornering, and sprinting of humanoid robots. While offering technical upgrades to sports events, this promoted the adoption of humanoid robots on a large scale.
Qin Yang, Deputy General Manager of China Unicom in Beijing spoke proudly of the excellent connections his company provided for the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games as a global strategic partner and the 2026 Beijing E-Town Half-Marathon event as the exclusive official communications sponsor. "5G-A and AI are essential digital infrastructure, enabling us to bring embodied AI to sports. Given the new dynamics of AI development, we will double down on our priorities over connectivity, computing power, services, and security to sharpen our competitive edges as a preferred telecom partner for intelligent sports and a core enabler for intelligent industry transformation. Moving forward, we will accelerate our innovation-driven push to strengthen our digital infrastructure and drive the high-quality growth of embodied AI in China and beyond."
Samuel Chen, Vice President of Huawei's Wireless Network Business Marketing, said this humanoid robot half-marathon offers a good example of deepening integration between mobile technology and embodied intelligence. "Beyond redefining connectivity for sports, it has shown us what intelligent production and life will look like in future. We are always dedicated to building excellent 5G-A networks together with operators based on user-centered innovation to ensure GigaUplink, low latency, and high reliability for differentiated mobile AI services. This will enable us to continuously drive the high-quality growth of the digital economy."
Hashtag: #Huawei #ChinaUnicom
China Unicom 5G-A empowering robots to sprint across the finish line China Unicom Delivered a Masterclass in Connected Marathon Events
Marathon events typically feature high-density crowds with an extensive demand for uploads. China Unicom and Huawei turned to 5G-A 3CC on 3.5 GHz and 2.1 GHz for the event, ensuring an uplink fulfillment at 20 Mbps surpassing 99.6%, along with a peak speed of field-tested 677 Mbps. This impressive uplink performance provided consistent and reliable support for 4K/8K broadcasting and real-time collection and editing while also enabling fans to share and stream smoothly.
Such unrivalled experience is underpinned not only by high-quality networks but also flexible operations. China Unicom and Huawei used intelligent base stations to build 5G-A intelligent, elastic channels for the event. This facilitated differentiated scheduling for livestreaming, voice and video calling, and short videos to ensure smooth experiences for fans even at heavy-traffic moments.
China Unicom 5G-A GigaUplink networks integral to the success of E-Town Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon 5G-A GigaUplink Takes Embodied AI to New Heights
In a global first, the E-Town half-marathon features a pioneering format that sees human and robot runners compete simultaneously. The humanoid robots were divided into an autonomous navigation group and a remote-control group, running on the same course and evaluated using mixed timing methods. Each humanoid robot requires approximately 10 Mbps uplink for video uploads, environment sensing, gait control, and autonomous navigation. Dedicated uplink slices were reserved to ensure a positioning accuracy of up to sub-decimeter level and an average end-to-end latency of less than 30 ms throughout the racing course, which provided strong support for the video uploads, obstacle avoidance, cornering, and sprinting of humanoid robots. While offering technical upgrades to sports events, this promoted the adoption of humanoid robots on a large scale.
Qin Yang, Deputy General Manager of China Unicom in Beijing spoke proudly of the excellent connections his company provided for the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games as a global strategic partner and the 2026 Beijing E-Town Half-Marathon event as the exclusive official communications sponsor. "5G-A and AI are essential digital infrastructure, enabling us to bring embodied AI to sports. Given the new dynamics of AI development, we will double down on our priorities over connectivity, computing power, services, and security to sharpen our competitive edges as a preferred telecom partner for intelligent sports and a core enabler for intelligent industry transformation. Moving forward, we will accelerate our innovation-driven push to strengthen our digital infrastructure and drive the high-quality growth of embodied AI in China and beyond."
Samuel Chen, Vice President of Huawei's Wireless Network Business Marketing, said this humanoid robot half-marathon offers a good example of deepening integration between mobile technology and embodied intelligence. "Beyond redefining connectivity for sports, it has shown us what intelligent production and life will look like in future. We are always dedicated to building excellent 5G-A networks together with operators based on user-centered innovation to ensure GigaUplink, low latency, and high reliability for differentiated mobile AI services. This will enable us to continuously drive the high-quality growth of the digital economy."
Hashtag: #Huawei #ChinaUnicom
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
At a glance
- Company
- China Unicom and Huawei
- Announcement
- Event
- Location
- Beijing, China
Key figures
- Uplink fulfillment rate at 20 Mbps
- surpassing 99.6%
- Field-tested peak speed
- 677 Mbps
- Approximate uplink requirement per humanoid robot
- approximately 10 Mbps
- Positioning accuracy
- up to sub-decimeter level
- Average end-to-end latency
- less than 30 ms
People
- Qin YangDeputy General Manager of China Unicom in Beijing
- Samuel ChenVice President of Huawei's Wireless Network Business Marketing
Products and programs
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