The latest data on 5G construction is released: huge potential and promising future

As the COVID-19 epidemic is gradually under control, my country's social production has gradually returned to normal, and the communications industry has also bid farewell to the "winter" of development. All parties in the industry have worked together, and 5G construction is in full swing. On July 21, the Operation Monitoring and Coordination Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the economic operation of the communications industry in the first half of 2020. Data shows that in the first half of 2020, my country's telecommunications business revenue totaled 692.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.2%, and the growth rate was 1.4% higher than the first quarter of this year. The fixed communications business revenue of the three major operators reached 236.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12%. The scale of mobile phone users remained stable, and the proportion of 4G users continued to increase.

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In the first half of 2020, after experiencing the test of the epidemic, the communications industry stepped up its efforts and raced against time in the progress of 5G construction, fully demonstrating the spirit of communications people who are not afraid of difficulties and are brave enough to climb to the top. However, as epidemic prevention and control becomes normalized, my country's 5G construction may still be affected by force majeure factors. How to complete the various "small goals" set at the beginning of the year, improve their ability to resist risks, and successfully complete the 5G construction tasks? Operators have answered with practical actions.

The number of 5G base stations has exceeded 400,000

Huge potential for promoting economic development in the future

On July 23, the State Council Information Office held a press conference to announce the latest progress of my country's 5G construction. Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that my country's total telecommunications business volume in the first half of the year increased by 19.3% year-on-year. Online shopping and live streaming, which were stimulated by the epidemic, continue to be popular, and industries such as online education and remote consultation are booming, and information consumption is growing faster. The construction of new infrastructure such as 5G has accelerated, and Internet applications have played an important role in promoting the restoration of economic order. Wen Ku, Director of the Information and Communications Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, revealed: "At present, the average number of new base stations opened in my country per week exceeds 15,000. As of the end of June, the three major operators have built and opened more than 400,000 5G base stations across the country." Previously, the three major operators have stated that they will complete the construction of 600,000 5G base stations ahead of schedule by the end of the year.

The development of 5G terminals can most directly reflect the progress of 5G commercialization. Wen Ku introduced that by the end of June, 197 5G terminals in my country had obtained network access licenses, and the shipment of 5G mobile phones exceeded 86.23 million. Previously, operators only disclosed the number of 5G packages, and the number of 5G terminals in use had not been revealed. At this press conference, Wen Ku revealed for the first time the number of 5G terminals in use in my country: by the end of June, 66 million 5G terminals were actually connected to the Internet.

In the future, the potential of 5G in stabilizing investment, promoting consumption, assisting upgrades, and cultivating new momentum for economic development will be further revealed as these data continue to grow. In addition, in order to truly play the supporting role of 5G in high-quality economic development, it is necessary to further strengthen policy guarantees, mobilize and stimulate the initiative of various market players, and thus promote the formation of a good 5G ecosystem of "good construction, good development, and good application".

Operators' June "battle report" released

The number of 5G package users exceeds 100 million

On July 20, the three major operators released their respective operating data for June. In terms of the number of mobile users, China Telecom's mobile users reached 343.47 million, a net increase of 2.27 million; China Mobile's users reached 946.739 million, a net decrease of 240,000; China Unicom's mobile billing users reached 309.5 million, a net increase of 783,000. Among them, China Telecom's 5G package users increased by 7.79 million, a total of 37.84 million; China Mobile's net increase of 14.59 million 5G package users, a total of 70.199 million; China Unicom's 4G users increased by 2.503 million, a total of 260.7 million. Although China Unicom has not yet disclosed the number of 5G package users, China Telecom and China Mobile's 5G package users have accumulated more than 100 million. Since the three major operators officially launched 5G packages on October 31, 2019, in less than a year, the number of 5G package users nationwide has exceeded 100 million. This shows that my country's 5G development has entered the fast lane and has also given the industry a shot in the arm.

After completing the small goal of 100 million, we must move towards a bigger goal. How to further increase the number of 5G users has become one of the key tasks of operators in the second half of the year. In this regard, Wen Ku said at a press conference on July 23 that since 5G was officially commercialized, upstream and downstream companies in the industry chain have been working together to promote the development of 5G, and based on market survey results, they have promoted users to use 5G and deployed a series of activities. As time goes by, more and more users will choose to replace 5G mobile phones. Especially in the future, when the 5G network deployment is completed and 5G terminals are spread across the terminal market, the era of universal 5G will come.

Regarding the practice of operators indiscriminately including 5G package users in the calculation when counting the scale of 5G users, Wen Ku said that he has noticed this problem. "Since the launch of 5G last year, operators have been continuously promoting the development of 5G, and 5G packages are included in the promotion activities." If users have 4G mobile phones, operators will also recommend 5G packages, but the Internet speed enjoyed by users will still match the original terminal, that is, there is a phenomenon that some 5G package users do not actually use the 5G network.

In addition, in order to better promote the development of 5G, create healthy market competition among operators, and build a fair and dynamic market competition pattern, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology chose not to intervene too much, but this does not mean that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will completely "let go". Regarding the assessment indicators and promotion measures of operators, as well as the possible assessment pressure of 5G packages, Wen Ku said that grassroots business personnel may adopt some improper practices when promoting, such as forcing users to change 5G packages, etc. These practices should be avoided. In the next step, local communications administration bureaus will pay close attention to the situation in various provinces and strengthen supervision and inspection, especially to investigate and deal with acts that infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of users, such as upgrading user packages without the consent of users, bundling sales, etc.

The era of everyone being an "Internet user"

The next step in 5G development and deployment

When 5G becomes a communication method that is no longer unfamiliar to the public, how should the industry chain plan the development of 5G in the next step? Recently, He Guili, Vice Chairman and Deputy Secretary-General of the Internet Society of China, released the "China Internet Development Report (2020)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). The "Report" shows that at the end of 2019, the scale of mobile Internet users in my country reached 1.319 billion, accounting for 32.17% of the total number of Internet users in the world. The total scale of 4G base stations reached 5.44 million, accounting for more than half of the total number of 4G base stations in the world, and the traffic consumption of mobile Internet access reached 122 billion GB, a year-on-year increase of 71.6%. In an era where everyone is an "Internet user", the Internet has become an indispensable part of people's lives. For this reason, 5G, as the main force in network development, has attracted the attention of the entire industry.

On July 27, a video conference of responsible persons of the national industrial and information technology departments was held in Beijing. The meeting specifically mentioned the six major goals and tasks for this year, including: to accelerate the construction of new infrastructure such as 5G, guide and give full play to local enthusiasm, reasonably determine construction goals, and actively, steadily and orderly promote the construction of 5G networks. Coordinate the development of 5G and gigabit fiber "dual gigabit" networks, and carry out the "100 cities gigabit" creation action. Taking highways and key cities as the entry point, intensify efforts to support the digital transformation of road management facilities. Organize and carry out commercial trials of Internet of Vehicles, and promote the application of new information and communication technologies in the field of intelligent networked vehicles.

At the same time, the three major operators are also actively making detailed plans for the next step of 5G development.

Li Zhengmao, general manager and deputy party secretary of China Telecom Group Co., Ltd., recently revealed that as of now, the number of 5G base stations in China Telecom's entire network has exceeded 200,000, and it is expected that by the end of the third quarter of 2020, more than 300,000 5G base stations will be in service. China Telecom has built a "2+31+X" cloud network infrastructure across the country and has 315 cloud resource pools across the country. In the next step, China Telecom will focus on the practice of 5G+ cloud network integration to enable industrial transformation and upgrading.

Dong Xin, general manager of China Mobile, said that China Mobile will focus on five aspects in the development of 5G. First, network upgrade, strive to exceed the annual construction task of 5G base stations, and ensure the provision of 5G services in cities at or above the prefectural level; second, technology upgrade, accelerate the improvement of 5G SA end-to-end technology and industrial maturity; third, operation upgrade, build hard-core capabilities, actively promote the opening of 5G+AICDE capabilities, and provide ubiquitous intelligent cloud and edge computing services; fourth, application upgrade, promote the implementation of 100 5G demonstration applications in 15 industries, and support industrial transformation and upgrading; fifth, ecological upgrade, unite with a large number of partners, deepen cross-border and cross-domain integration and innovation, and accelerate the iterative maturity of 5G technology, industry and business model.

Wang Xiaochu, Party Secretary and Chairman of China Unicom, pointed out at the company's 2020 mid-year work conference that in the second half of 2020, China Unicom will make every effort to stabilize its basic business, accelerate the 5Gization of its mobile business, and ensure the steady growth of its various businesses. It will accelerate the improvement of its digital core service capabilities, actively serve the national key strategic plans such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordination, the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, and the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Zone (Port), innovate 5G business models, and enhance the momentum of innovative development.

The construction and deployment of 5G network is like the city of Rome. It will not be completed overnight. Operators and upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain need perseverance and endurance to complete this marathon-like long-distance race. Especially in the current complex international environment, it is the hard truth to keep the original intention and stick to the original intention.