Year-end review: 2020 network communication "three major" keywords

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic spread wildly around the world, bringing a huge impact on the world economy and forcing traditional enterprises to develop in the direction of "online, digital and intelligent".

At one time, the demand for Internet communications surged, and remote work, online education, video conferencing, etc. became the norm in society and were accepted by more and more users. The overall Internet traffic also increased significantly compared with previous years.

TeleGeography data shows that the online economy triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 increased Internet bandwidth by 35%, driving average international Internet traffic up by 48% and peak traffic up by 47%.

At the same time, my country is vigorously promoting the "new infrastructure" strategy, consolidating the new cornerstone of the digital economy and ushering in an era of the Internet of Everything by improving the layout of communication network infrastructure such as 5G, Internet of Things, and Industrial Internet.

Overall, the communications industry will face both opportunities and challenges in 2020. In this regard, we have extracted the "three major" keywords: 5G, 400G, and Wi-Fi 6.

1. China has built the world’s largest 5G network

In 2020, my country will moderately advance the deployment of 5G networks, vigorously promote the construction of 5G networks through joint construction and sharing, and achieve extensive coverage of all prefecture-level cities and key counties and regions across the country.

As of the end of 2020, my country has built more than 600,000 new 5G base stations, put into operation more than 718,000 5G base stations, promoted the joint construction and sharing of 330,000 5G base stations, and built about 800 5G virtual private networks.

In 2020, the three major basic telecommunications operators (China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom) all achieved nationwide large-scale commercial use of 5G independent networking (SA).

According to statistics from the Global System for Mobile Communications Association, China's 5G infrastructure is the largest in the world to date, and the number of 5G connections in China accounts for more than 75% of the world's total.

The international standards organization 3GPP announced the freezing of the R16 standard, marking the completion of the first evolution version of the 5G standard. my country has comprehensively promoted the development of the R16 standard, and the results of the promotion cover all R16 topics.

The development of 5G applications has entered the introduction stage, enabling high-quality development of thousands of industries. Applications including 5G+mining, 5G+medical care, 5G+industrial Internet, as well as 5G messaging and 5G cloud games have gradually been implemented.

In the next 2-3 years, 5G network technology will be more prominent in terms of enhanced Internet of Vehicles, ultra-high reliability and low-latency communications, millimeter wave technology, etc., better supporting various industry applications and enhancing overall technical support capabilities.

The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology released the "White Paper on China's 5G Development and Economic and Social Impact (2020)", which estimated that 5G will directly drive a total economic output of 810.9 billion yuan in 2020.

2. The 400G data center era is coming

In recent years, global data traffic has continued to rise, prompting data centers to develop from 100G to higher speeds, larger bandwidths, and lower latency. 400G Ethernet has become an inevitable trend for data centers.

The application of 400G data centers will have a profound impact on the industrial chain ecology, and is expected to usher in a new round of growth cycle in the market for data communication equipment such as optical modules, switches, and routers.

Undoubtedly, 2020 is a critical year for the commercialization of 400G products. Mainstream manufacturers such as Cisco, Huawei, and H3C have already carried out relevant research and development and proposed their own 400G solutions.

The 400G solution can significantly improve network performance, thereby reducing network operation and maintenance costs, and promoting the development of 25G, 100G, and fiber optic markets.

Although the domestic 400G optical module industry has been active in advance, 400G has been deployed slowly due to power consumption and price. Omdia predicts that by 2025, 400G will dominate both shipments and revenue.

Dell'Oro Group's latest report states: In the next five years, the number of 400Gbps ports will continue to grow, and the shipment of 400Gbps switch ports will exceed 15 million.

3. Wi-Fi 6 shines in the wireless market

If 2019 is the year when the concept of Wi-Fi 6 became popular, then 2020 will be the year when Wi-Fi 6 exploration and implementation began.

In 2020, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced that Wi-Fi 6 will expand from the existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands to the 6GHz band, and will uniformly name it "Wi-Fi 6E".

The Wi-Fi Alliance believes that Wi-Fi 6E is expected to support applications such as high-definition video and VR that require faster, larger bandwidth capacity, and lower latency networks through additional spectrum capacity.

ABI Research pointed out that during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wi-Fi upload traffic surged 80%, which once again proved users' demand for Wi-Fi 6/6E and Wi-Fi Mesh applications.

The popularity of Wi-Fi 6 in China has been accelerated, and enterprises in the industry chain have ushered in development opportunities. Chip giants, network suppliers, mobile terminal and smart home manufacturers have entered the market in an attempt to get a piece of the pie.

Huawei's new Wi-Fi brand has been deployed in five major regions around the world, demonstrating its ambition as a communications giant. Ruijie Networks focuses on a good wireless experience and provides users with full-scenario Wi-Fi 6 products.

According to the "China WLAN Market Tracking Report, 2018Q4" released by IDC, H3C Group, a subsidiary of Tsinghua Unigroup, ranked first in market share with a market share of 31.1%.

IDC predicts that by 2023, Wi-Fi 6 will account for more than 90% of China's wireless AP market shipments. In the future, China's Wi-Fi 6 market will have more room for imagination.