5G development is gradually getting better

On June 6, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 5G commercial licenses to China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Broadcasting Corporation, marking that my country has officially entered the 5G era. Looking back, China's 5G development has gone through an extremely extraordinary three years. From the initial doubts and resistance, to the current unity of the industry and a high degree of ideological understanding, it has delivered brilliant results in network construction, business applications, commercial operations and other aspects, setting a 5G development paradigm for the world. In particular, industry applications with richer imagination space have gradually reached the critical point of large-scale development. It can be said that 5G has achieved a breakthrough and is about to enter a new stage of fully empowering economic and social development.

Build the world's largest 5G commercial network

my country has always adhered to the principle of "moderate advancement", steadily promoted the construction of 5G networks, continuously strengthened wide-area network coverage, and carried out precise network construction in response to industry needs. Over the past three years, telecom operators' 5G capital expenditures have remained high, with a cumulative investment of nearly 500 billion yuan. As of the end of April 2022, my country has built more than 1.6 million 5G base stations, accounting for more than 60% of the world's total 5G base stations, becoming the world's first country to build a 5G network on a large scale based on an independent networking model. All prefecture-level cities, more than 98% of county towns, and 80% of townships and towns in the country have achieved 5G network coverage, and are gradually extending to rural areas. It should be pointed out in particular that in order to achieve high-quality and low-cost network coverage, basic telecommunications operators have ushered in a new era of co-construction and sharing in 5G network construction, moving from the traditional "each operating for its own business" to mutual promotion and construction, forming a "2+2" co-construction and sharing pattern. China Telecom and China Unicom have jointly built and shared more than 700,000 5G base stations in the 3.5GHz and 2.1GHz frequency bands, and China Mobile and China Broadcasting Corporation plan to jointly build and share 480,000 5G base stations in the 700MHz frequency band.

By the end of 2021, the total number of mobile phone users in my country reached 1.643 billion, of which 5G mobile phone users reached 355 million. From 2019 to 2021, the total mobile Internet access traffic in my country reached 122 billion GB, 165.6 billion GB, and 221.6 billion GB, respectively, up 71.6%, 35.7%, and 33.9% year-on-year; the average monthly traffic per household reached 7.82 GB, 10.35 GB, and 13.36 GB, up 68.5%, 32%, and 29.1% year-on-year, while the average monthly traffic per household in 2018 before 5G commercialization was only 4.64 GB. The 5G diversion of the three major telecom operators accounts for more than 20% of the total mobile traffic, of which 5G traffic in key areas such as Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Beijing accounts for more than 30% of mobile traffic.

The power of the digital economy engine is gradually being released

Telecom operators have fully entered a new development stage with 5G as the core, and are constantly carrying out technological innovation and business transformation. Judging from the performance of the three major operators in the past three years, the total operating income in 2019, 2020 and 2021 reached 1.41 trillion yuan, 1.46 trillion yuan and 1.61 trillion yuan, respectively, with year-on-year growth of 0.52%, 3.52% and 10.25%; the total net profit reached 138.422 billion yuan, 141.218 billion yuan and 156.516 billion yuan, respectively, with year-on-year growth of -6.66%, 2.02% and 10.83%. It can be seen that 5G has significantly increased the revenue of the communications industry, pushing the communications industry into a growth track of more than 8%, and also promoting the leapfrog growth of the net profit of telecom operators. The "Research on China's 5G Development and Economic and Social Impact (2021)" released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology shows that in 2021, my country's 5G directly drove a total economic output of 1.3 trillion yuan and indirectly drove a total output of about 3.38 trillion yuan, both of which increased by more than 30% compared with 2020.

At present, typical new media applications based on 5G technology can be seen everywhere. A number of Internet companies such as Douyin and Kuaishou have seized the opportunity of 5G to grow rapidly. Short videos and live e-commerce are surging, becoming the most commercially valuable innovative applications promoted by 5G. The development of mobile communication technology has promoted the continuous updating of content production and consumption forms on the application side, constantly giving rise to richer entertainment, work, and learning methods, and bringing massive traffic consumption. During the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, applications such as 5G+UHD live broadcast and 5G+AR/VR brought an immersive viewing experience to global audiences; rural users used 5G networks to conduct e-commerce operations and live broadcast sales in the fields; during the epidemic, 5G networks provided strong support for online meetings, online classes, and telemedicine, greatly facilitating the people to carry out normal work and life without leaving home.

From the perspective of widely anticipated industry applications, the integration of 5G and various industries has enabled the rapid development of digital transformation, and pilot applications have begun to be replicated on a large scale. At present, my country has deployed 5,325 5G industry virtual private networks, which have played an enabling effect in multiple industries such as industry, medical care, education, and transportation, forming multiple typical application scenarios with commercial value, covering 40 of the 97 major categories of the national economy, with a total of 23,000 cases. Especially in the field of industrial Internet, which is vigorously promoted by the government, it has been widely used in 45 major categories of the national economy, such as steel, machinery, transportation, and energy, covering various links such as R&D design, production and manufacturing, and marketing services. There are more than 1,800 "5G+Industrial Internet" projects under construction, forming 20 typical application scenarios such as remote equipment control, machine vision quality inspection, and production energy efficiency control. Among them, some scenarios such as intelligent mining and production control, on-site auxiliary assembly, machine vision quality inspection, production site detection, and unmanned intelligent inspection have begun to be replicated in batches. The "Bloom Cup" 5G Application Innovation Competition has been held for four consecutive years. The number of participating projects has increased from 330 in 2018 and 4,289 in 2020 to 12,000 in 2021, covering more than 10 fields including industrial Internet, medical and health services, intelligent transportation, smart finance, sports and entertainment. Among them, 33% have been commercialized and 15% can be replicated on a large scale.

Continued policy support

The issuance of 5G licenses is closely linked to my country's vigorous promotion of new infrastructure construction in terms of time. 5G has always been promoted by policies from the central government to local governments as the first of new infrastructure. The Political Bureau of the Central Committee and the Central Economic Work Conference both proposed to vigorously promote the development of 5G. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has successively issued the "Notice on Promoting the Accelerated Development of 5G", the "Dual Gigabit" Network Collaborative Development Action Plan (2021-2023)", the "Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Issuing the "5G+Industrial Internet" 512 Project Promotion Plan", and the "5G Application "Sailing" Action Plan (2021-2023)", strengthening policy guidance and support in terms of network construction, application scenarios, and industrial development. The "Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Long-Term Objectives for 2035" proposed to "accelerate the large-scale deployment of 5G networks" and pointed out that it is necessary to "build application scenarios and industrial ecology based on 5G". The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Information and Communication Industry" further clarified the key tasks and goals of 5G development. At the same time, local governments at all levels have responded positively and promoted 5G as a key engine for the development of the digital economy. As of the end of 2021, almost all provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) and most prefecture-level cities (states) have issued 5G-related guidelines or action plans.

Set sail and write a magnificent chapter

At present, we still need to be aware that 5G has just embarked on the track of large-scale development, and the multiplier empowerment effect is far from being released. We need to continuously improve and innovate in network construction, public experience, industry value, etc., to truly realize the original intention of "5G changing society". In terms of network construction, the focus is on improving network coverage and capacity expansion, continuously strengthening the popularization of 5G network coverage in rural areas, and indoor and outdoor 5G network deep coverage and indoor optimization for high-frequency usage scenarios. Combined with the Rel-18 standardization process, 5G-Advanced commercial deployment will be gradually carried out. In terms of improving public experience, it is necessary to strengthen the integration of 5G with new-generation information technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence, continuously innovate business applications and product research and development, promote the popularization of AR/VR, 4K/8K ultra-high-definition and other services, and strive for the early emergence of real "killer" applications in the 5G era. In terms of improving industry value, it is necessary to further innovate the application ecosystem. All parties in the industry must work together to carry out 5G integrated application technology innovation, integration innovation and service innovation, fully understand industry needs, closely integrate with industry characteristics, accelerate the empowerment and upgrading of 5G for various vertical industries, and timely summarize the experience and results of industry applications with broad prospects, solid foundations and clear models, and accelerate replication and promotion.

The next 2 to 3 years will be a critical period for the commercial development of 5G. The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Information and Communication Industry" clearly states that by 2025, the number of 5G base stations per 10,000 people will reach 26, and the penetration rate of 5G users will increase from 15% in 2020 to 56%. 5G will be deeply integrated with various fields of the economy and society. According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, by 2025, 5G will drive network investment of about 1.2 trillion yuan and directly drive a total economic output of about 10.1 trillion yuan. At present, 5G has laid a good foundation in network facilities, user penetration, industry practice, and commercial operations. It can be foreseen that relying on high-speed, ubiquitous, secure and controllable 5G networks, and organically combined with digital technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, the enabling base of my country's digital economy in the new era will continue to be consolidated, thereby empowering thousands of industries and stimulating more new industries, new formats, and new models. While 5G itself is constantly leaping to higher, broader and deeper levels, it will also strive to write a magnificent chapter in promoting the vigorous development of my country's digital economy and the new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way.