In the digital economy era, operators focus on technological innovation to optimize and upgrade digital infrastructure

The State Council recently issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Digital Economy" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), proposing to strengthen the construction of digital infrastructure, take innovation as the primary driving force for development, and continuously strengthen, optimize and expand my country's digital economy. By 2025, the added value of core industries in the digital economy will account for 10% of GDP.

As the main force in my country's digital infrastructure construction, telecom operators have a heavy responsibility.

my country's digital economy is moving towards a period of comprehensive expansion

The latest national digital economy special plan clearly states that by 2025, the digital economy will enter a period of comprehensive expansion, and the added value of the core industries of the digital economy will increase from 7.8% in 2020 to 10% of GDP. Specifically, the number of active IPv6 users reached 800 million, an increase of 73.91% over 2020, and the number of gigabit broadband users reached 60 million, an increase of 837.5% over 2020...

According to the "White Paper on the Development of China's Digital Economy" released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, from 2005 to 2020, the scale of my country's digital economy has rapidly grown from 2.6 trillion yuan to 39.2 trillion yuan, effectively supporting epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development. It has become the most dynamic, innovative and widely radiating economic form at present, and is one of the core growth poles of the national economy.

At the same time, data from the National Bureau of Statistics also showed that in 2020, the scale of China's digital economy was 39.2 trillion yuan, accounting for 38.6% of GDP, and the growth rate was more than three times that of GDP. In terms of overall scale, China ranks second only to the United States with more than 80 trillion yuan. In terms of GDP share, China still has a significant gap with the 60% of the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States, and has huge potential.

The Plan further accelerates the digital economy index to 10%. According to the agency's calculation, based on the development speed of China's economy, China's GDP is expected to reach 130 trillion yuan in 2025. By then, the added value of the core industries of the digital economy will reach 13 trillion yuan.

The status of digital infrastructure such as information networks is highlighted

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, operators continued to improve digital infrastructure and built the world's largest optical fiber and fourth-generation and fifth-generation mobile communication (4G, 5G) networks. According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, my country has built and opened more than 1.396 million 5G base stations, and 5G networks continue to deepen coverage in counties and towns.

At the same time, the penetration rate of broadband users has increased significantly, with fiber-optic users accounting for more than 94%, the penetration rate of mobile broadband users reaching 108%, and the number of active users of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) reaching 460 million, providing strong support for the development of the digital economy.

Han Xia, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, predicts that by the end of 2022, my country's 5G base stations will exceed 2 million and the number of 5G terminal connections will reach 600 million. Therefore, the number of 5G network base stations to be built this year will still start at 600,000.

To achieve the new goals of digital economic development, operators will, in accordance with the Plan, accelerate the construction of information network infrastructure, promote cloud-network collaboration and computing-network integration, and orderly promote intelligent infrastructure upgrades. At the same time, they will also proactively deploy 6G network technology reserves, increase support for 6G technology research and development, and actively participate in promoting 6G international standardization.

Operators carry out technological innovation layout in advance

The construction of digital economy should adhere to innovation-driven and integrated development. The Plan clearly states that we should adhere to innovation as the first driving force for development, highlight the strategic support role of scientific and technological self-reliance, promote the extensive and in-depth penetration of digital technology into all fields of economic, social and industrial development, promote the integration and innovation of digital technology, application scenarios and business models, and form a development pattern in which technological development promotes the improvement of total factor productivity and field applications drive technological progress.

In the face of the new digital economic development goals proposed by the State Council and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's requirements to steadily and orderly carry out 5G and gigabit optical network construction, increase IPv6 application innovation and promotion, and accelerate the integrated application of 5G in vertical industries, operators have carried out technological innovation layout in advance.

Among them, China Telecom released a science and technology innovation action plan at the end of last year and launched ten key projects for science and technology innovation in the "14th Five-Year Plan"; established a Science and Technology Association to promote innovation in cloud transformation and digital transformation; proposed the goal of building a technology-based enterprise; and the 2022 annual work conference will list science and technology innovation as the first of the seven key tasks.

China Mobile has anchored its new positioning as a "world-class information service technology innovation company". The 2022 work conference also proposed to bravely become the "main force" of technological innovation and enhance the fundamental driving force.

China Unicom emphasized its new strategic positioning of developing the company through science and technology and strengthening the company through innovation in 2022.

Operators' strengthening of technological innovation not only injects motive force into corporate development, but also is an important driving force for the development of the digital economy and the construction of a Digital China.