Is the epidemic a booster or stumbling block for 5G?

A sudden epidemic seems to have disrupted the development of the technology industry. Recently, GSMA officially announced that the MWC 2020 exhibition to be held in Barcelona at the end of February will be cancelled due to the impact of the new coronavirus epidemic. People can't help but worry that due to the epidemic, will the 5G process be delayed?

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1. Will the epidemic stimulate the accelerated implementation of 5G applications?

5G+Telemedicine

Telemedicine is a very important scenario in the application of 5G technology in the Internet of Things. Telemedicine based on 5G communication integrates small device wireless communication technology and high-speed mobile communication technology in multiple modes on the basis of traditional medicine, and can realize remote surgical operations, wireless remote consultation, patient monitoring and real-time follow-up, command and decision-making of emergency rescue events, etc. In 2019, the scale of my country's smart medical construction industry exceeded 88 billion yuan, and it is expected that this figure will exceed 100 billion yuan by 2020.

In this "anti-epidemic war", 5G construction fully demonstrated the "China speed". Wuhan Vulcan Mountain Hospital successfully launched the 5G network within 2 days, and the hospital's telemedicine system was in place before February 3. China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, China Tower Corporation, Huawei, ZTE and other companies jointly completed the construction of the Vulcan Mountain 5G base station. Based on 5G and gigabit networks, the three major operators launched several telemedicine consultation systems at the Vulcan Mountain Hospital, providing convenience for concentrated and real-time consultations by experts from different regions across the country.

Previously, the 5G remote consultation application system built by China Telecom with the assistance of Wuhan Union Hospital was officially put into use, successfully connecting the Union Headquarters and various branch headquarters, facilitating the efficient implementation of epidemic diagnosis and treatment.

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(Photo source: Sina Weibo)

Remote diagnosis and treatment has high requirements for network bandwidth, latency and reliability. 5G networks can support 4K/8K remote high-definition consultations and high-speed transmission and sharing of medical imaging data. As the anti-epidemic work deepens, remote consultation activities are being carried out across the country, providing support for local hospitals with poor medical conditions and becoming a new solution for local treatment of COVID-19 patients.

This epidemic can be regarded as an important turning point for the application of 5G technology in the medical industry, and 5G+medical care is gradually moving towards the implementation stage.

5G+Video

5G high-definition video live broadcast allows us to experience the successful application of 5G more intuitively. During the epidemic prevention and control period, 40 million netizens watched the "supervision" of Huoshenshan and Leishenshan hospitals on social networks, and the construction site was comparable to "chasing stars". Each of us "cloud supervisors" witnessed the construction of the hospital day by day, and we were both relieved and proud.

This is precisely thanks to the technical support of 5G. Telecom operators and equipment manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE, and Unisoc provide the "cloud supervisor" with the hard conditions of 5G+fiber dual-gigabit network, providing 24-hour construction scenes to multiple media platforms, ensuring real-time and stable transmission of live video streams, and supporting tens of millions of people to watch online simultaneously.

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(Photo source: Sina Weibo)

From the live broadcast of the Asian Games, the live broadcast of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the live broadcast of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the live broadcast of the Spring Festival Gala to the current "24-hour epidemic" live broadcast, 5G video live broadcast applications have gradually matured in practice.

In addition, 5G added value such as remote office and distance education is helping to resume work and production and serve social life. On February 14, Han Xiari, director of the Information and Communications Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a press conference: "It is very important to use information technology to support the analysis and judgment of the epidemic situation and the deployment of epidemic prevention and control." The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will strengthen the application of big data, artificial intelligence and 5G technologies to help epidemic prevention and control.

2. Upstream devices and network construction are greatly affected by the epidemic

However, the epidemic has caused all gatherings to be suspended, and the resumption of work at labor-intensive electronics manufacturing factories has been repeatedly postponed. In addition, the postponement of bidding for many domestic 5G projects and limited production capacity have also constrained the steady development of 5G to a certain extent.

"Global IoT Observer" learned from several terminal solution manufacturers that the impact of the epidemic on the 5G industry chain mainly comes from two aspects, including the production delay of upstream device and equipment manufacturers and the construction progress of base station construction. Some companies are miserable: "The shutdown of upstream factories has delayed our delivery to customers."

For example, Wuhan Fangu, HGTECH, and Accelink Technologies, all of which are located in Wuhan, are important suppliers of upstream components for 5G base stations. The delay in the resumption of work of these companies has caused a delay in supply. At the same time, the closed management of residential communities across the country has delayed the construction and upgrading of 5G base stations.

However, some industry insiders believe that: "Although 5G infrastructure construction and component production are not as expected, we can still try to catch up with the 5G process in the later stage."

3. Three major operators: 5G development will not be affected

On February 17, China Unicom stated: "Fighting the epidemic will be an important opportunity for the development of China's 5G terminals, and China Unicom's 5G terminal layout and development will not be affected by the epidemic." They believe that in fighting the epidemic, using 5G to solve medical needs is undoubtedly the first priority. 5G telemedicine, medical robots, medical smart speakers, 5G consultation monitoring equipment, etc. can effectively reduce the work pressure of medical staff, reduce direct contact, and reduce the chance of medical staff being infected.

Jian Qin, vice president of China Mobile, also delivered a keynote speech at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's media briefing on February 17, introducing China Mobile's current achievements in the construction of 5G technology facilities. As of the end of January, China Mobile had opened 74,000 5G base stations, and the number of new 5G package users had increased to more than 6.7 million.

China Telecom has also put its 5G application solutions into practice and has deployed a large number of mature 5G application solutions in many locations. This not only provided an example for the implementation of 5G+ solutions, but also contributed intelligence and efficiency to epidemic prevention and control work.

Final Thoughts

The epidemic is undoubtedly a severe test for the 5G industry, which is accelerating its development. We are waiting for the spring to come, and we hope that 5G will seize the opportunity to usher in a new round of explosion.