5G competition enters the second half, shifting from technology to application

At present, 5G is rapidly integrating into various industries such as industry, energy, medical care, transportation, media, education, and life entertainment, becoming a key driver for the digitalization, networking, and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the real economy, opening up a new path and providing a new engine for the innovative development of the digital economy. Recently, Wen Ku, vice chairman of the China Communications Standards Association, said in a report titled "5G Network Development Innovation and Vertical Applications" that the 5G competition has entered the second half, and the focus of competition has shifted from seizing the high ground of the technology industry to 5G applications.

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my country's 5G integrated applications flourish

The "14th Five-Year Plan" outline repeatedly mentions industrial digital transformation, digital society construction, and digital ecology. It proposes to build an industrial ecology based on 5G application scenarios, carry out pilot demonstrations in key areas such as smart transportation, smart logistics, smart energy, and smart medical care, and set up a scenario column for digital applications, including smart transportation, smart energy, smart manufacturing, smart agriculture and water conservancy, smart education, smart medical care, smart culture and tourism, and other application scenarios.

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with ten ministries, issued the "5G Application "Sailing" Action Plan (2021-2023)", proposing specific goals. By 2023, key indicators of 5G applications will be greatly improved; the penetration rate of 5G individual users will exceed 40%, and the number of users will exceed 560 million; the proportion of 5G network access traffic will exceed 50%, and the efficiency of 5G network use will be significantly improved; the average annual growth rate of 5G IoT terminal users will exceed 200%.

By 2023, the effectiveness of 5G applications in key areas will be evident. In the vertical industry sector, the 5G application penetration rate of large industrial enterprises will exceed 35%, 5G applications in power, mining and other fields will be replicated and promoted on a large scale, and the scope of 5G+ Internet of Vehicles pilot projects will be further expanded, promoting the digital transformation and upgrading of traditional industries such as agriculture and water conservancy.

Wen Ku said that at present, my country's 5G integrated applications are flourishing, with economically developed regions taking the lead. The 5G "Blooming Cup" competition has only 330 projects in 2018, and 4,289 projects have been registered in 2020, involving more than 10 fields such as industrial Internet, medical health, smart transportation, urban management, sports and entertainment, smart education, and public safety emergency response. 5G industry application innovation and landing clusters have been formed in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta.

It can be seen from the project registration situation of the 5G "Bloom Cup" in the past three years that in 2018 and 2019, most of the projects were demonstration and conceptual projects. Since 2020, nearly 30% of the projects have been put into practical use.

Building 5G virtual private networks for vertical industries

At present, the difficulty of 5G application lies in how 5G network supports vertical applications. "Scaled replication from 1 to N is the basis for large-scale promotion of 5G." Wen Ku said. The scaled application of 5G encounters the "three highs" problem on the network side: high customization cost of 5G network, high difficulty in integrating 5G network with industry, and high demand for independent network operation by enterprises. The "three highs" problem drives the evolution of 5G 2C network to 5G industry virtual private network. 5G needs to evolve from a 2C network to a 5G 2B network, involving several areas, including distributed sinking deployment of core network, lightweight deployment of network equipment, "co-management and co-maintenance" between operators and vertical industries, and determination of converged network.

The 5G industry virtual private network has certain requirements for the public network, namely, to provide industry users with a customizable, secure, reliable, high-quality network that can meet the industry's own needs, as well as a network architecture that can be operated by industry users themselves.

There is a growing consensus on building 5G industry virtual private networks, which have entered a period of large-scale deployment. With the joint efforts of the three major operators, the number of 5G industry virtual private networks has continued to grow. As of the first quarter of 2021, the total number of 5G industry virtual private networks built nationwide has exceeded 1,000.

There are three modes of 5G industry private networks. The first is public network sharing, which uses the public network through QoS and network slicing technology to prioritize business and isolate business logic. The second is public network exclusive use, which achieves network exclusive use through the core network UPF sinking and realizes local traffic offloading. The third is customized and dedicated, which achieves on-demand customization through the dedicated construction and use of base stations and other equipment to provide customers with dedicated 5G networks.

Through practice, we can see that in order to meet the needs of vertical customers, take into account the requirements of large-scale network deployment, and minimize the social cost of the entire network, industry virtual private networks have become the first choice for various industries. Among them, the public network dedicated UPF sinking model is the main one.

Wen Ku said that there are three major elements driving the evolution of 5G industry virtual private networks. The first is value maximization. To give full play to the value of operators' public networks and realize the transformation from 2C networks to 2B networks, innovations need to be made in network architecture, technology, and management models. The second is integration and controllability. 5G networks are integrated with existing industry networks and systems to meet business carrying needs and achieve "manageable and controllable" networks. The third is security assurance. 5G networks must meet the needs of vertical industries and ensure that business data does not leave the park, and that business end-to-end security isolation and encryption are required.

At present, there are several solutions for 5G industry virtual private networks. The first solution is to explore new operation and maintenance models based on the 5G service capability platform. On the 5G industry virtual private network service capability platform, one end is connected to the enterprise information management platform and the other end is connected to the operator's capabilities. The vertical industry connects its own business system with the 5G data system. In this solution, enterprises can choose operation packages independently, and the three major operators can customize packages suitable for enterprises according to the different needs of vertical enterprises.

The second solution is to fully deploy the 5G network and establish a management and control interface with operators. The characteristic of this solution is that the enterprise has the final say. The lightweight full core network is deployed within the enterprise, and the enterprise customizes the configuration and future evolution direction of the core network according to needs, reducing the impact on the operator's large network. At the same time, the operator can also "control it". There is a core network management and control interface between the operator and the enterprise to achieve "joint management" of the 5G network.

The third solution is to build 5G network templates for key industries. It is necessary to study and formulate 5G industry virtual private network template standards for key industries such as steel, electricity, and mining. According to the industry's business carrying requirements and the original business framework, build industry-customized 5G industry virtual private network templates, including industry-specific deployment architecture, end-to-end capabilities, etc. The characteristic of this solution is that the industry business framework "changes little". Based on the industry's existing business network architecture and business processes, build an industry 5G converged architecture to achieve "plug and play" 5G networks, and try not to change the existing business architecture and processes of industry enterprises. The network has strong "determinism" and "few accidents" in business. According to the industry's business carrying requirements, operators provide 5G end-to-end capabilities to ensure the security of vertical industry services.

Wen Ku believes that the goal of 5G industry virtual private networks is to achieve a low-cost, high-value, high-security, manageable and controllable 5G network model and sink it to industry enterprises. He said that in the future, 5G industry virtual private networks will also be explored from three aspects: first, cross-border research to explore the 5G full network sinking model; second, formulate 5G template standards for key industries to form a foundation for large-scale promotion; third, establish a 5G test system for key industries to form an iterative output channel.