As VR enters its heyday, how will the three major operators plan their layout?

As we all know, VR is a very popular technology nowadays. Just by putting on a pair of glasses, you can enter a new virtual world, or be in a history museum that is not restricted by time and space, or in the vast and boundless scenery, or appear in the game world immersively. No matter what the scene is, VR can bring us a very fresh and interesting experience.

However, the development process of such an interesting technology is indeed quite bumpy. In just four or five years, it has gone from hot to cold and then hot again. The reason for this is the immaturity of network technology and industry. However, with the advent of 5G and the continuous advancement of policies, the VR industry will explode and enter its own highlight moment.

Not long ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Promoting the Accelerated Development of 5G", requiring the further promotion of 5G+VR/AR (augmented reality) and other applications to promote new information consumption. According to the forecast of Greenlight Insights, an AR/VR industry market analysis agency, the global VR industry will reach 160 billion yuan in 2020, and the Chinese market will reach 90 billion yuan.

From the current perspective, the scale of the VR industry is expanding rapidly and has begun to appear in all walks of life. In addition to the traditional gaming and entertainment fields, VR has also been widely used in medical care, transportation, education, agriculture, manufacturing and other fields. The commercial prospects are becoming more and more prominent, and its market popularity is constantly rising.

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In the 5G era, VR enters its heyday

As early as 2016, with the market capital fueling the trend, VR has become a hot spot for many companies to pursue. However, due to various reasons such as the immaturity of the network, terminals, content and industry, the VR industry soon entered a "cold winter moment".

For example, in the 4G environment, consumers need to connect to the remote central server through the LTE base station to download content when watching online VR videos. In this process, due to the influence of network delay and transmission rate, consumers often see stuck pictures and have a poor viewing experience.

In terms of content, there are no popular videos, games, or other blockbuster applications that can capture the hearts of young people once they are launched. This is one of the reasons why the entire industry cannot expand rapidly and accelerate commercialization.

However, with the arrival of gigabit networks and 5G, the VR industry has emerged from the period of disillusionment and entered a period of recovery.

From a network perspective, the popularization of 5G technology will effectively solve the delay and cost issues faced by VR devices. In addition to helping solve pain points such as dizziness caused by image delays, cloud rendering technology will help reduce hardware requirements for terminal devices, thereby promoting VR devices to enter the home consumer market.

At the content level, all industry links are also strengthening the development of VR content. We have seen that operators, medical, education, traditional enterprises, etc. are actively exploring applications and strengthening cooperation with platforms, bringing consumers an excellent experience.

For China, this year, the advantages of VR technology have been highlighted under the COVID-19 epidemic, and the AR/VR industry has also been actively developed under special circumstances. Since the construction of the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan hospitals began, CCTV has provided people with 24-hour uninterrupted real-time live broadcasts of the construction sites, and people have achieved "cloud supervision" through VR live broadcasts, with tens of millions of people online at the same time.

In addition, in the medical field, the VR isolation visiting system builds a bridge of communication between patients and doctors, patients and their families, reducing the risk of cross-infection during contact; VR house viewing solves the problems of offline marketing during the epidemic, such as the safety of gathering of people and the closure of housing sales communities; VR cloud tourism is also a new way of tourism for the completely stagnant tourism industry. People can not only choose attractions in various places at will, but also reduce the fatigue of holiday travel or the trouble of coordinating family members in their spare time.

This series of operations all show that VR has begun to make a strong comeback and has broad prospects.

The layout of the three major operators

When it comes to the development of the domestic VR industry, the efforts of operators are indispensable. Data shows that the three major operators invested 180.3 billion yuan in 5G in 2020, jointly focusing on 5G+VR construction.

According to China Telecom's financial report, the company's capital expenditure in 2020 was 85 billion yuan, of which 5G expenditure accounted for 53.3%, or 45.3 billion yuan. In October last year, China Telecom cooperated with South Korean operator LG U+ to build a 5G+VR application ecosystem.

China Mobile's 5G-related investment is 100 billion yuan, and it has released its 2020 VR-related strategy. In 2020, its VR business will focus on China Mobile's 5G users and gigabit home broadband users, and it plans to develop China Mobile's VR business user scale to 5 million, of which no less than 1 million will be VR headset terminal users.

China Unicom stated that its 5G-related investment was 35 billion yuan, released the "1+2+N" 5G XR strategy, and announced the establishment of the 5G XR Ecological Alliance. At the same time, it held a series of 5G frequency resonance activities and announced cooperation with 3Glasses, Nreal, Nad Optics and others in hardware, content, services and other aspects.

In addition to the above investment and layout, at the fifth Global Virtual Reality Conference (GVRC) held not long ago, the three major operators also further elaborated and released their plans for VR.

Jian Qin, deputy general manager of China Mobile, said that with the acceleration of the global 5G commercialization, countries are making every effort to build a new industrial economy around 5G and accelerate the reshaping of the economic development pattern. As one of the most important application areas of 5G, VR is expected to be a success.

"5G+VR applications will not only bring people a wonderful hyper-reality experience, but will also shape an era of innovation and creation. China Mobile is willing to work with the industry to accelerate the "5G+" plan, empower VR industry transformation and innovation through 5G, and stimulate new vitality for 5G+VR."

It is reported that China Mobile has launched a mobile cloud VR product that spans "VR headsets, mobile phones, and TVs": the integrated terminal headset product Launcher/APK has been upgraded to version 1.3.0, and a game-specific product 6DOF high-end integrated machine has been launched; in addition to the Migu Video VR Zone on the mobile phone side, the newly launched mobile cloud VR APP can simultaneously support three usage modes: naked eye, Cardboard, and split VR glasses, making the VR experience more convenient.

In the field of content, adhering to the concept of "open cooperation, symbiosis and win-win", we launched the Mobile Cloud VR "Content Ecosystem Three-Five Plan", which focuses on five vertical content areas, expands five types of cooperation models, and enhances five experience perceptions. In the field of terminals, we work with VR and mobile terminal manufacturers to formulate industry interoperability technical standards and promote the scale development of products.

In terms of film and television, as of May 2020, Migu has more than 10,000 hours of ultra-high-definition content reserves and more than 40,000 hours of VR content reserves. In addition, there are a large number of true 3D film libraries that directly use cinema-source 3D media and have theater-level viewing quality and immersion; classic old film libraries that have been upgraded to ultra-high-definition quality through rescue work; and an exclusive panoramic content library including films exhibited at the Venice Film Festival.

As of now, "Mobile Cloud VR" has established cooperation with more than 200 copyright holders. Looking to the future, "Mobile Cloud VR" is constantly increasing its open cooperation efforts.

Wang Hao, head of China Telecom Tianyi Cloud VR, said, "A healthy content ecosystem requires that upstream and downstream partners in the industry can obtain corresponding returns through business models. China Telecom Tianyi Cloud VR is building a content aggregation and distribution platform, allowing more outstanding content producers to acquire users and then gain profits on this platform. This is the essence of the platform. Platform plus ecology is the core of the strategy, and the platform itself is the core of the development scale of active users, and in this process, the user experience is ultimately satisfied."

On April 14 this year, China Telecom teamed up with the "CCTV Video" APP to launch the "5G Mount Everest Slow Live Broadcast", which for the first time led netizens to watch the 24 hours of sunrise and sunset on Mount Everest from a VR ultra-high-definition perspective. It is currently the highest altitude "slow live broadcast" in China.

In early May, Haobai Holdings, a subsidiary of China Telecom, and Youzu Interactive reached a cooperation agreement to jointly build a "5G-VR Town" and jointly develop a new 5G entertainment business. The two parties will use the large-scale game "VR Town" as a content integration platform and fully cooperate in the content construction, market development and social resource sharing of Tianyi Cloud VR's 5G ecosystem.

Fan Yunjun, deputy general manager of China Unicom Group, said that China Unicom will build an integrated network and business capability with "Gigabit 5G, Gigabit Broadband, and Gigabit WiFi" to contribute to the acceleration and improvement of China's digital life. It demonstrated the plan to digitize life through Unicom's three gigabits from the three aspects of new infrastructure, new platform, and new ecology, and strive to fulfill the glorious mission of "connecting the world and creating a better and smart life" and achieve the development goals of inclusiveness, sustainability, innovation, and cooperation.

Among them, it is proposed to create a new world of digital life with the new 5Gⁿ platform. China Unicom Live relies on the self-developed integrated professional live cloud platform for centralized acquisition, editing, broadcasting and integration, providing the "5G+IPTV+VR" multi-screen broadcast function. China Unicom Wo Video VR/AR relies on the 5G ultra-high-speed network and gigabit home broadband network to provide users with an end-to-end full-scene immersive experience through "product+content+terminal".

Focusing on the application of VR technology, China Unicom has launched a VR application called "China Unicom VR", which integrates VR games, VR videos, VR live broadcasts, giant screen cinemas and other content. Shandong Unicom users wearing VR devices can enjoy VR travel, VR viewing, and 360° immersive experience through the "China Unicom VR" application and high-speed, high-quality dual-gigabit network.

In addition, China Unicom and 3Glasses held an online press conference on strategic cooperation on March 17. As the developer of Asia's first mass-produced VR headset, the pioneer of VR's first business model (offline experience point model), and a leading Chinese VR industry company with nearly 6,000 experience terminals across the country, 3Glasses held a press conference with China Unicom to launch all-round cooperation around "terminals, applications, and services".