It’s time to launch 5G applications

Recently, ten departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the National Health Commission, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the "5G Application "Sailing" Action Plan (2021-2023)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan"), proposing that by 2023, the penetration rate of 5G in large industrial enterprises will reach 35%, 5G demonstration application benchmarks in each key industry will reach 100, and the annual growth rate of 5G IoT terminal users will reach 200%, which will further safeguard the development of 5G and speed up the shift.

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Wait for the wind or chase it?

At present, the new generation of information and communication technology represented by 5G is actively innovating and accelerating its deep integration with various economic and social fields. It is increasingly becoming a key driving force for promoting the digitalization, networking, and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the economy and society, and has strongly supported the construction of a manufacturing power and a cyber power.

Since the commercial use of 5G, people's attention to 5G has not decreased but increased. Wang Jianzhou, former chairman of China Mobile, believes that the demand for the network in the development of the digital economy has promoted the development of 5G. During the epidemic, people's various activities rely on the Internet, such as online office, online education, and online entertainment. People have felt the importance of the Internet more and have a deeper understanding and experience of digital transformation. The epidemic has accelerated digital transformation, and the development of the digital economy has also stimulated people's demand for 5G networks and promoted the development of 5G.

With the joint efforts of all parties in the industry, 5G commercial use has achieved remarkable results in more than two years. The technical industry capabilities have been continuously improved, the network and user scale are leading the world, and application exploration is increasingly active. A large number of excellent cases have emerged, achieving a breakthrough from "0" to "1". According to the data of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of June 2021, my country has opened a total of 961,000 5G base stations, covering all cities at the prefecture level and above in the country, and has built the world's largest 5G independent networking network. However, even with such excellent results, 5G is far from meeting the expectations given to it by thousands of industries. At the beginning of 5G research and development, people focused their attention on industry and enterprise applications, believing that 5G will be one of the strongest tools for thousands of industries to accelerate digital development.

Indeed, 5G can make mobile phones access the Internet faster, allowing C-end users to enjoy a faster and more stable network experience, but this is not the focus of 5G. The value of 5G lies more in industry applications. So, what are the requirements of industry applications for the network? How great is the demand for 5G?

"Unlike to C customers, to B customers have distinct requirements for network autonomy and network capabilities." Huang Rong, project manager of China Unicom Research Institute, summarized the four requirements of to B customers for the network. "First, reliability. The connection must be disconnected but the network must not be disconnected. This requires customization and personalization of the network. Second, fast activation, even at the hour level, is required. Rapid recovery after network failure is very important. Third, enterprise self-service. To C customers purchase cards to enjoy services, while to B customers may need to open cards themselves, allocate numbers for users, and manage them themselves, including monitoring capabilities, and be able to perceive network operations and operation quality. Fourth, network isolation. At present, most large enterprise users have the demand that data does not leave the campus."

In order to meet the demands of B-side customers, operators need to form a closed-loop service system from the bottom to the top: the bottom layer provides flexible network connection capabilities; the middle layer provides value-added network services, such as customized positioning and intercom capabilities; the top layer provides enhanced network services, builds a closed-loop intelligent management and control system, and makes the network configurable, responsive, and open to customers.

It is worth noting that my country has many industries, and the digitalization levels and development stages of various industries and enterprises are different, with great differences in demand and more prominent personalized demands. Therefore, the development of 5G applications must be closely combined with industry characteristics and development needs, fully grasp the phased, innovative and complex characteristics of 5G application development, and follow the principle of "implementing policies by industry and advancing in an orderly manner" in a step-by-step manner, focusing on key areas and batches, and making breakthroughs in some key industries with strong application needs, good foundations and strong driving forces. After maturity, it will be gradually replicated and promoted to thousands of industries.

Rather than waiting for the wind to come, it is better to chase it. From July 24 to 25, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology took the lead in conducting a national 5G industry application scale development on-site meeting and research activities in Shenzhen and Dongguan. Xiao Yaqing, Secretary of the Party Committee and Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out in his speech that 5G applications must adhere to demand-oriented, and application solutions must be innovative. It is necessary to establish a number of high-level application benchmarks, focus on industry rigidity and pain point application needs, give play to the leading role of leading enterprises in various industries such as industry, transportation, energy, medical care, and media, drive the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to deeply explore industry needs and application scenarios, and create industry-specific application scenarios and benchmark high-level demonstration projects. Industry and local competent departments should strengthen the selection, publicity and promotion of 5G application benchmark projects, and guide the continuous emergence of new technologies, new formats, and new models.

Riding the wind, setting sail

5G integrated applications are an important engine for promoting the digitalization, networking, and intelligent transformation of the economy and society. However, we must also see that the large-scale development of 5G applications is still difficult, and it is urgent to coordinate the forces of all parties, clarify goals, optimize the environment, and form synergy to continuously promote 5G to achieve a leap from "1" to "N".

Different from consumer Internet applications, the main battlefield of 5G applications is to empower the real economy and all industries, which determines that 5G applications are a long-term, complex and systematic project. The Action Plan combines the current status of 5G applications and future trends to establish my country's 5G development goals for the next three years. Create a new ecosystem with deep integration of IT (information technology), CT (communication technology) and OT (operation technology), achieve breakthroughs in the depth and breadth of 5G applications in key areas, build dual pillars of technology industry and standard system, further enhance basic capabilities such as network, platform and security, and gradually form a situation where 5G applications "set sail for a long journey".

Operators play an important role in promoting the scale development of 5G industry applications. With the support of policies, operators have taken the lead in continuously investing in network construction and application research and development, actively cooperating with various industries, and accelerating the development of 5G applications.

With the joint efforts of all parties in the industrial chain, China Telecom's 5G industry applications are showing a rapid development momentum. Li Zhengmao, general manager of China Telecom Group Co., Ltd., said that China Telecom will take industry empowerment as its goal, deepen industry cooperation, and promote the scale development of 5G industry applications. First, prosper the industrial cooperation ecosystem. China Telecom initiated the establishment of the 5G Industry Innovation Alliance and developed more than 300 members. On July 16, 2021, China Telecom established the industry's first operator 5G converged application open laboratory. Second, build an industry application platform to promote the deep integration of "cloud, network, edge, terminal, security, and use" with emerging information technologies such as the Internet of Things. Third, promote the implementation of industry applications. China Telecom focuses on typical 5G industry application scenarios such as 5G+mining, 5G+steel, 5G+energy, 5G+electronics, and 5G+ports, adheres to the coordinated development of "5G+DICT", and conducts in-depth cooperation with many industry leaders such as Skyworth, Shenhua Coal, Meishan Steel, State Grid Qingdao, Midea Group, and Wuhu Port.

China Mobile has seized the opportunity of 5G development and implemented the "5G+" plan to promote the integration of 5G into various industries and serve the public. At present, China Mobile has opened more than 500,000 5G base stations, developed more than 250 million 5G package users and more than 120 million network users, expanded more than 200 industry-leading demonstration projects, and more than 4,000 5G commercialization projects, and laid out nine industry platforms. 5G "climbing Mount Everest", "going down to the mine", "entering the seaport", "entering the factory", and "helping to fight the epidemic" have aroused enthusiastic responses. Dong Xin, general manager of China Mobile, said that the "blue ocean" of 5G industry applications is broad enough, as the saying goes, "the vast journey is boundless, but the wind is trustworthy". Under the direct leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China Mobile is willing to work together with all parties in the industry to ride the wind and waves, accelerate the deep integration of 5G with various fields of the economy and society, and make new contributions to building a strong manufacturing country, a strong quality country, a strong network country, and a digital China.

China Unicom has achieved remarkable results in 5G network capabilities and application innovation. Through network co-construction and sharing, a total of 478,000 5G base stations have been opened, and 5G networks cover all prefecture-level cities and core urban areas of developed counties across the country. Focusing on the fields of industrial Internet, medical health, smart mining, smart cities, etc., more than 300 5G lighthouse projects have been created and more than 2,000 projects have been promoted and replicated. Chen Zhongyue, general manager of China Unicom, said that China Unicom will earnestly implement the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's 5G application "Sailing" plan, carry out in-depth network strengthening actions, steadily promote the scale of 5G applications, continue to focus on 5G application support capabilities, key areas, and innovative ecology, and strive to promote industrial integration and innovative development.

5G is a national project. In addition to operators’ full efforts to promote it, other large state-owned enterprises should also actively participate in the innovation of various application scenarios. Whether it is 5G+ mines or 5G+ ports, operators play more of a “channel” role, and the real value discovery is still in the industry.

Steady progress and forge ahead

It is gratifying that my country's 5G applications have achieved a breakthrough from "0" to "1", and have been first implemented in many leading industries such as industry, energy, and transportation. However, in order to achieve large-scale deployment from "1" to "N", the joint efforts of upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain are still needed. In the view of industry experts, to accelerate the pace of 5G application innovation, on the one hand, operators must change their identities from network construction operators to higher-value content application service providers. On the other hand, relevant departments should also build bridges to promote deep interconnection and collaborative cooperation between upstream and downstream enterprises to form a "team competition" for application innovation.

It can be seen from the Action Plan that there is a timetable and roadmap for expanding 5G applications. By 2023, each key industry will create more than 100 5G application benchmarks. The Action Plan focuses on the three major areas of information consumption, real economy, and people's livelihood services, and focuses on promoting 5G applications in 15 industries, and initially forms a 5G innovation application system in three years. From the perspective of promoting information consumption, it focuses on cultivating 5G+ new information consumption and integrated media, driving the consumption of new products and new content, and accelerating the implementation of 5G in the media field; from the perspective of promoting the real economy, it focuses on promoting the in-depth application of 5G in the fields of industrial Internet, Internet of Vehicles, smart logistics, smart ports, smart mining, smart electricity, smart oil and gas, smart agriculture and smart water conservancy, and accelerating the digital transformation process of key industries. From the perspective of improving people's livelihood services, it focuses on increasing 5G application innovation in smart education, smart medical care, smart cultural tourism and smart cities, exploring new models and new formats, and enhancing people's sense of happiness and gain.

"The next step will be to encourage leading companies in various industries to take the lead in breakthroughs and create a benchmark for 5G application innovation." Liu Liehong, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, emphasized that at the same time, we must give full play to the role of the market and, on the basis of deepening the 5G consumer market, encourage industry companies to further explore the "blue ocean" of 5G industry applications.

At the same time, the Action Plan also supports local governments, industry alliance associations and other departments and units to timely summarize the development results of 5G industry applications, and promote the accelerated transformation of 5G applications from "model houses" to "commercial houses" through various means such as funding, policies, and competitions, and accelerate the replication and promotion of applications to thousands of industries, fully empowering the construction of a digital China.

Xie Cun, Director of the Information and Communications Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said: "At present, my country's 5G development is at the forefront of the world, and there is no ready-made experience to learn from for 5G applications. 5G is still in its early stages of development overall, and its integration with the industry is a gradual process. It needs to follow the rules from pilot demonstration to large-scale promotion and then to large-scale application. It is inevitable to experience various setbacks, and we must fully understand the complexity and difficulty of 5G application development. It is estimated that by 2023, there will be 18 5G base stations per 10,000 people in my country, the penetration rate of 5G individual users will reach 40%, and the proportion of 5G network access traffic will reach 50%."

There will always be a time to ride the wind and waves, and set sail to cross the vast ocean. The launch of the Action Plan marks that my country's 5G application development ideas are gradually maturing, and will play an important "milestone" role in the future development of my country's 5G. I believe that with the joint efforts of all parties involved in "industry, academia, research and application", the large-scale development of 5G applications is just around the corner.