China Mobile Gao Tongqing: Seize the new opportunities of 5G development and win the new era of intelligent interconnection of all things

On February 23, the world is undergoing a major change that has not been seen in a century. A new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is emerging globally, and the digital transformation of the economy and society is accelerating, bringing new opportunities for the development of the information and communication industry. Especially since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the world, and the digital development of the economy and society has shown new characteristics of "five verticals and three horizontals".

According to authoritative organizations, by 2025, the economic scale of China's typical scenarios represented by the "five verticals" will exceed RMB 2 trillion, and in terms of the "three horizontals", the number of global connections will exceed 100 billion, the proportion of large enterprises using AI will reach 97%, and the proportion of enterprises using cloud will reach 100%. It can be said that the information and communication industry, relying on new-generation information technologies such as 5G, has played an important role in promoting the digital transformation of the economy and society, and has also ushered in its own broad development space.

At the 2021 GTI International Industry Summit, Gao Tongqing, deputy general manager of China Mobile, said: "China Mobile actively seizes new opportunities, comprehensively strengthens the construction of new infrastructure represented by 5G, vigorously promotes the use of information technology and data elements, and builds a new ecosystem of cooperation and win-win with all walks of life, so as to inject intelligence and empower the comprehensive promotion of high-quality economic and social development."

First, consolidate new infrastructure

New infrastructure is the foundation for the development of the digital economy. 5G is the first of the new infrastructure and the first foundation of the new infrastructure. Cloud computing is the foundation of the new infrastructure and the cornerstone of the construction of a digital society. Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of the new infrastructure and the engine of digital social change.

According to Gao Tongqing, in terms of 5G, China Mobile has built the world's largest 5G boutique network covering the whole country, with advanced technology and excellent quality. So far, more than 390,000 5G base stations have been built, and 5G commercial use has been achieved in all prefecture-level cities and some key county towns across the country, and the number of 5G package users has reached 169 million. This year, we will continue to promote the scale of 5G networks to a new level, and basically achieve good 5G coverage in cities, county towns and some key towns across the country. Second, we will promote the maturity of technologies such as 5G SA network slicing and uplink enhancement, and strive to create 5G industry-specific network services with wide coverage, excellent performance, low cost, strong operation and maintenance, and full capabilities for industry customers. In terms of products, we customize three types of networking modes of superior, specialized, and superior for customers on demand to meet various slicing needs of customers; in terms of technology, we design nine capabilities in three major areas of basic networking, deployment capabilities, and service support; in terms of operations, we have formed a team of experts who understand all walks of life, and are building a one-stop operation platform and a full-process service system for pre-sales/sales/after-sales. At present, we have implemented it in 15 industries and 100 application scenarios. The third is to continue to promote the evolution of 5G technology. 5G evolution is driven by business and market development, and is also the result of technological innovation. 5G+DOICT is generating collisions, integration, and excitement, which will surely promote new technological innovation and development. To this end, China Mobile has proposed a technology evolution route for the future development of extreme, minimalist, integrated, and cloud-based development. At this conference, we will also jointly release a white paper on 5G evolution with international operators and industry partners, hoping to build a sustainable future for 5G with the industry.

In terms of cloud infrastructure, China Mobile attaches great importance to the development of cloud, regards "mobile cloud" as the most important strategic business of the company, strengthens the layout of the entire network, and builds a "cloud-network integration, personal service, customization, security and controllability" smart cloud. After more than ten years of development, China Mobile has made breakthroughs in many key core technologies that can be independently controlled, independently developed servers and self-developed cloud operating systems, and currently has more than 600 cloud computing-related patents and more than 140 software copyrights. In 2021, we will invest tens of billions of resources to build the industry's strongest resource pool; we will launch the "Panshi" cloud server to improve the efficiency of infrastructure; we will independently build cloud hosts to achieve breakthroughs in key technical capabilities; we will build one-stop services with cloud-native applications to upgrade the core technology architecture.

In terms of artificial intelligence, China Mobile spent seven years to develop the China Mobile Jiutian artificial intelligence platform, which has launched more than 90 AI applications, supported more than 100 5G solutions for thousands of industries, and served more than 900 million users, with significant results in large-scale internal and external intelligent empowerment. At the same time, the China Mobile Jiutian artificial intelligence platform is superimposed on the mobile cloud to promote the mobile cloud to heterogeneous hardware resources, efficient operation and maintenance management, one-stop AI R&D, diversified capabilities, and intelligent upgrades of industry applications, realizing the new development of mobile cloud to smart cloud.

Second, use new elements

At present, China Mobile is vigorously promoting the integration and application of 5G with AICDE and blockchain and other fields of information technology to form general information service capabilities and fully release the amplification, superposition and multiplication effect of information technology on economic and social development. For example, in the field of Internet of Things, China Mobile OneLink has exceeded 710 million connections, serving more than 140,000 industry customers, and the OneNET platform has exceeded 186 million connections, supporting more than 180,000 developers; in the field of cloud computing, there are more than 200 products and industry solutions; in the field of edge computing, more than 130 5G edge computing application projects have been carried out, and 5 edge computing incubator nodes have been built to provide incubation environment and tools to the outside world. In the future, China Mobile will continue to accumulate network services, authentication and other operator-specific CT capabilities, as well as 5G+ cloud computing, big video, security, positioning and other emerging capabilities. On the other hand, through the Nine Days Moon, Digital Spark, Phoenix Nesting and other plans, the industry's top high-quality information service capabilities are gathered, and new scenarios for commercial applications are jointly explored to inject intelligence and empower the transformation and upgrading of various industries.

In terms of data elements, we will create an enterprise-level big data platform with "open ecology, advanced technology, comprehensive data and huge scale". After years of construction, China Mobile's big data platform "Wutong Big Data" has gathered data from all over the enterprise. By building a data middle platform, it has the world's leading data scale and platform capabilities. The equipment scale exceeds 24,000 X86 servers, and the average daily access volume exceeds 1,900TB, realizing the unified collection, processing and calculation of data across the entire network, and creating 150 products and industry solutions in five categories in government affairs, finance, tourism, transportation, and people's livelihood. In the fight against the new crown epidemic, China Mobile fully utilized its data operation capabilities, went all out to provide epidemic prevention and control communications and data services, and provided more than 1.8 billion itinerary inquiries to the society, making an important contribution to winning a major victory in the fight against the epidemic.

Third, generate new momentum

The continuous improvement of new infrastructure and the application of two new elements will inject new impetus into better people's lives and more efficient social production governance.

In terms of life services, we have created business applications such as ultra-high-definition video, video ringtones, cloud games, XR, and 5G messaging, allowing customers to enjoy high-definition, immersive new experiences. For example, during the just-passed Spring Festival, in order to avoid the risks brought by the large-scale movement of people, many people chose to "spend the New Year in the cloud" locally. Through 5G and 4K/8K, AI, AR/VR and other technologies, they watched the ultra-high-definition Spring Festival Gala, visited the "cloud temple fair", watched the "cloud performance", and also made warm "cloud New Year greetings" without leaving home, so that the epidemic would not spread and the New Year atmosphere would not fade.

In terms of social governance, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, new applications such as 5G telemedicine, infrared temperature measurement, and unmanned logistics vehicles have helped win the battle against the epidemic; to help resume work and production, new models such as 5G health codes, thermal imaging, cloud office, cloud classroom, cloud video, and cloud commerce have been rapidly popularized to ensure that companies can "stop work but not stop production." Academician Zhong Nanshan, a famous respiratory expert, said that information and communication technologies, led by 5G, have played an important role in the fight against the epidemic and will also create greater value in helping to improve the level of medical intelligence.

In terms of social production, China Mobile has joined hands with industry partners to implement a series of 5G industry applications such as smart mines, smart ports, and smart steelmaking, accelerating the digital transformation of thousands of industries. For example, 5G smart mines have realized intelligent transformation of the entire process of rock drilling, shoveling, transportation, and lifting. Taking Shandong Gold as an example, it is estimated that 2,000 people are saved each year, saving 20% ​​of labor costs, about 300 million yuan, and improving labor efficiency by 30%. 5G smart steelmaking applications are gradually moving from auxiliary processes to core processes, from the first phase of overhead cranes and high-definition video surveillance services to the second phase of AI steel surface quality inspection, 5G data acquisition, etc., improving efficiency by 25%, saving 20 million yuan in costs each year, and improving the environment to achieve zero damage.

Fourth, build a new ecosystem

China Mobile actively builds a prosperous new ecology with the industry. First, upgrade R&D cooperation. Relying on the "One Body and Four Rings" innovation system, through the "Joint Creation +" plan, jointly expand the new joint R&D model of "joint investment of resources, shared risks, shared achievements, and shared benefits" with partners to promote the upgrading of scientific and technological innovation cooperation; second, vigorously carry out commercial cooperation, by opening up a billion-level customer market, implementing a 50 billion value sharing action, and investing 100 billion yuan in mergers and acquisitions, to jointly open up a new blue ocean of commercial cooperation; third, continue to strengthen international cooperation. We are in an era full of challenges and opportunities. The century-old epidemic has brought far-reaching impacts and has also bred major opportunities for the digital development of the economy and society. This requires more global operators and industrial chains to unite and cooperate to jointly respond to challenges, promote the development of 5G, and seize new opportunities. "On the one hand, we will jointly solve the challenges such as power consumption and cost that 5G still faces in its development, promote the 5G industry to promote the maturity of multi-mode, multi-frequency and multi-form terminals, support special functions such as 5G messages, realize global roaming, and continue to promote the development and evolution of 5G technology standards and industries towards extreme capabilities, extremely simple networks, green and efficient, and intelligent and safe directions; on the other hand, we will jointly build a 5G international cross-industry integration ecosystem and continuously expand the '5G+' global circle of friends." Gao Tongqing said.