Chairman of the five major operators talks about 5G: "Team competition" and "Individual competition" on the road to 5G

September 1 news, at the main forum of the "2021 World 5G Conference" yesterday, there was a very rare scene: the chairmen of the five operators sat together for a roundtable discussion. Among them were China Telecom Chairman Ke Ruiwen, China Unicom Chairman Liu Liehong, China Mobile Chairman Yang Jie, China Tower Chairman Tong Jilu and China Broadcasting Chairman Song Qizhu.

"They are just a few of the 165 5G networks in the world, but they represent 70% of the world's 5G network capabilities and support 80% of the world's 5G users. That is to say, their development is actually related to the development of 5G in the world." The host, Wu Hequan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, described the operators behind the five chairmen.

The five chairmen frequently made golden remarks, all talking about 5G from the perspective of their respective operators. In short, they are: the "team competitions" and "individual competitions" on the road to 5G.

China Telecom: 5G construction should be advanced and moderately advanced

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China Telecom Chairman Ke Ruiwen said that China Telecom has its own considerations and pace in improving the infrastructure and service capabilities of 5G.

First of all, 5G construction should be carried out first and should be moderately ahead of time. There are three main considerations: First, deep coverage. It mainly refers to public places with dense indoor crowds, such as transportation hubs and commercial buildings. These places should achieve continuous 5G coverage from indoors to outdoors. Second, wide-area coverage. There are now two networks (one in rural areas and one in cities) and 1 million base stations. In rural areas, the advantages of low frequency are used to achieve a larger range of co-construction and sharing; in remote areas and along highways and high-speed railways, outdoor coverage is achieved to narrow the urban-rural 5G digital divide. Third, fixed-point coverage. Tailor-made 5G private networks for key customers, key enterprises, and key parks to achieve integration with production and management activities.

Secondly, build a new 5G bearer network. "This bearer network should be a new type of bearer network that integrates fixed and mobile, cloud and network, and fully supports new technologies and protocols including SRV6. The most important thing is to provide customers with end-to-end, slice-customized services, realize 5G dual-gigabit access, and achieve one-point cloud access and multi-cloud interaction."

Third, if 5G is to be deeply cultivated and to achieve integration and symbiosis, there must be an open 5G innovation capability platform. This platform is a general capability platform and an application capability platform that can provide standardized and open capabilities, provide customers with tailor-made services, and be shared by the whole society.

Of course, there are still many new things to be explored, especially technical issues, including cloud-network integration technology, security technology, and energy-saving technology. According to Ke Ruiwen, the funds raised from China Telecom's IPO will be mainly used for this purpose. "We are confident that we can build 5G better," Ke Ruiwen said.

China Unicom: Turning "model rooms" into more "commercial housing" to empower all industries

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Liu Liehong, the newly appointed chairman of China Unicom, spoke eloquently. He pointed out: "China Unicom has always attached great importance to the application of 5G in the industry. It can be said that it has early insight and quick action. It has vigorously promoted the application of 5G in industries such as industry. Now it has built more than 300 lighthouse projects and replicated more than 2,000 pilot demonstration projects, which have produced positive results."

According to Liu Liehong, China Unicom will focus on three things in the next stage:

First, we will strive to turn the "model rooms" that have been built into more "commercial housing". We will actively implement the "5G Application "Sailing" Action Plan" formulated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and will pay more attention to cooperating with leading enterprises in various industries such as industrial enterprises, transportation, energy, medical care, and education to jointly play a "team game" and create a good industrial development ecology, so that more 5G application projects can become large-scale and replicable "commercial housing", and make China Unicom's contribution to the digitalization, networking, and intelligence of the manufacturing industry.

Second, more emphasis will be placed on empowering all industries. "In the future, China Unicom will focus more on benefits in its 5G application projects, and on bringing tangible results to industrial enterprises and leading enterprises in all industries. Whether it is energy conservation and emission reduction, safe production, quality improvement and efficiency increase, or building unmanned factories, we will focus on tangible results and truly empower all industries."

Third, in the process of promoting digitalization, networking and intelligence, China Unicom itself must also achieve a new digital transformation to better adapt to the needs of promoting 5G applications to empower thousands of industries. "In this process, China Unicom will also further strengthen cooperation with the brother operators present here, work together to build a good 5G ecosystem, so that China's 5G can become the world's leading network and leading application, and provide a good Chinese solution for the digital transformation of the whole world."

China Mobile: From "clearing land, selecting seeds and raising seedlings" to "intensive cultivation and afforestation"

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Yang Jie, Chairman of China Mobile, made many golden remarks at the event, summarizing the past and future of the "5G+" plan in 16 words: "China Mobile proposed the '5G+' plan two years ago. If the past two years were 'opening up wasteland and selecting seeds and raising seedlings', then the next stage should be called 'intensive cultivation and afforestation'."

Yang Jie said that China Mobile focuses on the "5G+" plan from four aspects:

First, network construction. "There are now 500,000 5G base stations. The next step is to continue to expand in depth and breadth. The 5G co-construction and sharing with radio and television is in progress. It is expected that the first batch will be officially put into use by the end of this year. Next year, we will continue to deepen and thoroughly build and share the entire 5G co-construction and sharing to become a high-quality network."

At the same time, in the construction of 5G networks, we must implement the concept of green development and use energy-saving technologies and AI technologies to reduce power consumption as much as possible.

Second, technological innovation. The core of "5G+" is first the integrated innovation of 5G network, creating a computing network with deep integration of network, cloud, data, intelligence and edge, which is crucial for the next step of development. Secondly, the entire 5G technology innovation, "5G will be a symbol in the future, not only representing 5G wireless access network, but also the integration of information technology, so as to play an ecological benefit." Yang Jie emphasized.

China Tower: Sharing is possible, not building. We especially need continuous support from governments at all levels.

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"5G construction is expensive and costly. How to provide efficient and economical support services for the three operators is the mission of China Tower," said Tong Jilu, chairman of China Tower. In the two-year 5G construction process, China Tower has gained a deep understanding:

First, we provide support through deepening sharing and economic efficiency, and do not build what can be shared. At present, 2.1 million tower resources are fully shared; social resources are shared in a coordinated manner, and 19% of the current base stations use light poles, monitoring poles, power towers, etc.; in some important venues, such as subways, high-speed railways and large infrastructure, China Tower strives to take the lead in co-construction and sharing.

Second, 5G construction requires continuous support from governments at all levels. 5G infrastructure, like coal, water, electricity and gas, should be included in urban and rural construction plans. Currently, 90% of cities have included it in the plans. If you want a good 5G signal, buildings and other facilities in cities, especially large cities, should be opened together; establish and improve relevant technical standards.

Third, 5G construction requires innovative construction models. For example, 5G has a high frequency and requires a large number of base stations, especially some large venues and high-density buildings in cities, which require macro and micro base stations to coordinate and complement indoor and outdoor, which requires cooperation with operators.

Third, ecosystem construction. "China Mobile will sing the 5G 'chorus' together with all partners in the industry chain, because 5G is not a 'solo', but a 'chorus' that requires everyone to join together."

Fourth, integrated applications. This is the most critical. The "5G+X" integrated applications can truly serve the public and integrate into all industries. If this is achieved, 5G can play a role. According to Yang Jie, China Mobile has already had many applications in the past two years. The next step will be to make these applications flourish everywhere and truly integrate into all industries.

China Radio and Television: Willing to conduct "team competition" and develop in a differentiated manner

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Song Qizhu, Chairman of China Radio and Television, used a simple metaphor to express China Radio and Television's attitude towards 5G construction: "As a new operator, China Radio and Television is still a new company less than three years old. We are willing to compete with you in a 'team competition', just like gymnastics, different roles will give the audience different feelings."

First, lay a solid foundation. "Laying a solid foundation for 5G is a task entrusted by the state and the hope of the people. China Radio and Television is going all out to accelerate its pace and lay the foundation for the future development of radio and television by consolidating, optimizing and strengthening the basic network."

Second, differentiation. China Radio and Television is both a new communications operator and a network operator in the established radio and television industry. It has both new and old elements, moving from tradition to new momentum. It still needs to start with new media and new content, and use content to drive development. We believe that IoT is a blue ocean, so the Internet of Things is also the development direction of China Radio and Television. Of course, it is necessary to cooperate with the three operators in the ecological industry and build platforms, including content platforms, and platforms integrating 5G and radio and television.

"I think in the near future, China's radio and television will break out of its cocoon and hope to give users and the industry a new image," said Song Qizhu.

In conclusion:

As Academician Wu Hequan said, "5G has not been commercially available for two years. It is not easy to build nearly 1 million 5G base stations in such a short time, accounting for 70% of the world's total. Of course, for the current 4G base stations, the number of 5G base stations that have been built is only about 1/6, so there is still a very arduous task."

On the road to 5G construction, operators, equipment manufacturers, terminal suppliers, and content service providers have a long way to go.