5G development requires a long process

In terms of network construction scale, the number of 5G base stations in China currently exceeds 2 million; in terms of the number of users, the number of 5G package users of the three major operators currently totals nearly 1 billion; in terms of market application, last year the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology launched the "Sailing" action plan for 5G applications. Over the past year, 5G commercial development has achieved remarkable results, with a large number of excellent cases emerging. Operators have also called for 5G to leap from "model housing" to "commodity housing" and "boutique housing". Judging from the data, 5G is developing well. But in reality, 5G development always gives people a feeling of "almost not being ready".

This feeling of being "almost done" was further amplified by an expert at this year's World 5G Conference, whose criticism of the three major operators' "4G-based 5G applications" triggered another wave of heated discussions in the industry. 5G's "almost done" feeling is also reflected in the fact that it is hotly pursued in the communications circle but indifferently watched by industry users. This "hot inside and cold outside" reflects the slow progress of 5G from "model house" to "commercial house".

How do you view the unsatisfactory development of 5G? Or, how can 5G achieve a rapid leap from "0-1" to "1-N"?

It is a fact and inevitable that 5G development is not satisfactory at present. This inevitability is reflected in the huge difference between the positioning of 5G and previous generations of mobile communication technology. From 1G to 4G, the problem of personal mobile communication was solved. Therefore, these generations of mobile communication technology were positioned in the personal service market. It was precisely because of the foundation of 1G, 2G, and 3G that 4G changed our lives and the mobile Internet industry prospered and developed. 5G is different. 5G solves the problem of the interconnection of all things. From its birth, it has undertaken the great task of "changing society."

If it took the industry more than 30 years to develop and prosper the mobile communications to C market from 1G to 4G, then 5G has just begun in the face of the large market of the Internet of Everything. From this perspective, 5G application is a long-term, complex, and systematic project, which involves the deep integration of IT (information technology), CT (communication technology), and OT (operation technology), and is closely related to the digital foundation, experience and knowledge of enterprises in various industries. It not only requires the extensive participation of multiple parties in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain and the development of "group" cooperation, but also urgently requires the concerted efforts of government departments to increase support and guidance, and promote the overall penetration of 5G integrated applications from "point blossoming" to various industries, the entire process, and all links, from "model rooms" to "commercial housing" to "finely decorated housing". Only in this way can a large integration and large ecology of 5G applications be formed.

Rome was not built in a day, and the beginning of an era is not achieved overnight. Therefore, in the face of the Internet of Everything, the development of 5G is just the beginning. You can think of it as analog mobile communications or 2G. 5G opens the door to the world of the Internet of Everything and starts the engine of the digital era, while the development of the industry requires 6G and 7G to complete.