Foreign media attention: China completes 5G base station construction target ahead of schedule

Foreign media said that the stay-at-home lifestyle during the epidemic has greatly increased the demand for the Internet, and the 5G application models in multiple scenarios such as mines, ports, and hospitals have made the 5G halo shine. China opened 690,000 5G base stations by the end of September, completing the construction goal of 500,000 base stations this year ahead of schedule.

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According to a Reuters report in Beijing on October 31, as the construction of 5G terminals and base stations has begun to take shape, how far is China from the goal of transforming 5G applications into real productivity of the digital economy and network economy?

In response to questions about whether 5G investment is too advanced, relevant Chinese authorities recently stated that moderately advanced construction is a common feature of public infrastructure. 5G has entered a critical stage of development, and application promotion is the focus of current work.

The report said that in fact, in the next two to three years, China's 5G construction and development will still be in a continuous upward stage, and there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of technical standards, network construction, and especially application exploration.

Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that in the first three quarters of this year, the production index of information transmission, software and information technology services increased by 10.1%, 2.2 percentage points faster than the first half of the year. Business revenues from cloud computing, big data, data centers, the Internet of Things, and other industries grew rapidly.

According to reports, investment in new information infrastructure represented by 5G has increased. As of the end of September, 690,000 5G base stations were put into operation across the country, and cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou have achieved continuous coverage of 5G networks in urban areas.

Since the issuance of 5G licenses last year, China's 5G network construction has entered the "fast lane". According to the latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of now, more than 800,000 5G base stations have been deployed worldwide, and China's 5G users have exceeded 150 million. This means that China's 5G construction progress far exceeds that of other countries and ranks first in the world.

The report also stated that despite the high investment in equipment and network, and the high price and cost of using 5G mobile phones, the sudden outbreak this year has become a catalyst for the accelerated construction of 5G. During the epidemic, the network load was full, and China withstood this test. The moderate and advanced network construction obviously contributed greatly. This also made everyone taste the sweetness of 5G network. Local governments also attach great importance to the development of 5G, and have given strong support in terms of special planning, resource opening, site coordination, and base station electricity consumption. The support can be said to be unprecedented. This fully released the policy dividends, reduced the difficulty of network construction and the operating pressure of enterprises, greatly stimulated the construction enthusiasm of operators, and completed the goal of building 500,000 base stations this year ahead of schedule.

As for whether to increase the construction of 5G base stations this year, Chinese operators are currently evaluating. Obviously, 5G has entered a critical stage of development, and application promotion is the focus of current work.

The report pointed out that when China is accelerating the layout of its 5G strategy, the high investment cost and development prospects are also the focus of social attention. In particular, how to transform it into real productivity and become a growth point leading China's new round of economy, there is obviously no ready-made template to achieve this goal. Some people in society also believe that moderate advancement of infrastructure is necessary, but excessive advancement in some aspects will increase user costs or unsustainable public sector debt. If no application scenarios are found, it will be difficult to digest the costs.

As for how to reduce the high construction and application costs, relevant departments said that for any network, with large-scale deployment, the network cost will become lower and lower. The broad prospects for 5G applications will ensure the sustainability of investment and construction. 5G has expanded from the traditional individual-oriented to various industries. It is a very challenging "blue ocean" involving many emerging fields, some of which have made progress and some are still being explored. In the next three years, China's 5G will still be in a continuous rising stage. It is still necessary to maintain strategic focus, respect the laws of technological evolution, network construction, and market development, comprehensively accelerate the pace of innovation in 5G applications, and strive to form a 5G benign development model of "promoting use by construction and promoting construction by use".

At a forum held in Beijing in mid-October, Ding Yun, executive director of Huawei and president of the Carrier BG, gave advice: the core goal of China's 5G in the next stage is to create the most successful 5G from the perspectives of experience and business closed loop. He believes that in the early stages of 5G network deployment, compared with countries such as South Korea and Switzerland that deployed 5G earlier, China's 5G industry still has a lot of work to do to achieve greater success. For example, in the field of personal business, there is still a gap in user experience, that is, the problem of "fake, dumb, and poor"; on the other hand, the area where 5G mobile phone users are located may not have 5G network coverage. Overall, the matching degree of "machine", "network" and "package" is still not high.