The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has indicated 10 important directions for 5G development in 2020!

On January 20, the State Council Information Office held a press conference in Beijing on the development of the industrial communications industry in 2019. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology introduced the development of the industrial communications industry in 2019 and revealed a number of major 5G development directions.

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The rostrum of the press conference (Source: Photo by Liu Jian of Guoxin.com)

Miao Wei said that in 2019, a total of 130,000 5G base stations were built across the country, which was inseparable from the active cooperation and capital output of telecom operators. In addition, the revenue of telecom business last year was 1.3 trillion yuan, and the total business volume increased by 18.5% year-on-year.

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Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology (Source: Photo by Xu Xiang, China News Service)

In 2019, 25 mobile terminals supporting 5G networks obtained network access licenses issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. By the end of 2019, the shipment volume of 5G models in the domestic mobile phone market had exceeded 13.77 million units. Throughout the year, 1,461 industry standards in the fields of 5G, Internet of Vehicles, new materials, and high-end equipment manufacturing were approved and issued.

In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology answered relevant questions from reporters and indicated the ten major directions for the next 5G development:

1. In 2020, the focus will be on accelerating the construction of 5G independent networking

Miao Wei said: After the ITU 5G R16 standard is officially determined this year, the focus should be on accelerating the construction of independent 5G networks. Only this kind of independent networking can further demonstrate the overall performance of 5G.

2. 5G work must be done well, and 6G work must be started at the same time

Wen Ku said: 5G is just beginning to develop, and there is still a lot of work to be done, including 5G independent networking, 5G applications and other issues are still being explored, and applications need to be gradually accumulated. But at the same time, 6G should also be planned and researched as soon as possible.

Whether it is 5G or 6G, this work is global. In mobile communications, it is called "one world, one standard". "The international research progress is similar to ours. Whether in the ITU or 3GPP, experts are working on 6G research, but it is not yet time for everyone to show a result. In fact, they are still exploring."

3. Foreign-invested enterprises are welcome to participate in China’s 5G network construction

Miao Wei said: China will, as always, welcome foreign-funded enterprises to actively participate in the construction of China's 5G network, and will abide by relevant laws and regulations and treat domestic and foreign enterprises and operators fairly.

In the Internet age, no technology can be independently developed by a country behind closed doors, and no application can be used within a country.

China is willing to continue to work with the global industry to promote the development of the 5G industry. "In the process of formulating 5G standards, we built an experimental platform, including Qualcomm, Intel, Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and other companies and Chinese companies such as Huawei, ZTE and Datang, which cooperated on the same platform and achieved very good results."

4. 5G's bigger "blue ocean" lies in the field of industrial Internet

Miao Wei said: We will deepen the application of 5G and cultivate a large number of vertical industry applications. 80% of them will be used on the Internet, especially the industrial Internet.

5G meets the needs of some high-end consumer groups, such as virtual reality, ultra-high-definition video, large-scale online games, etc., and can also solve the problem of network congestion in urban hot spots.

However, 5G's larger "blue ocean" lies in the field of industrial Internet, helping industrial enterprises to establish intranets and promote the digitalization, networking and intelligentization of enterprises.

5. Collaborate on 5G security issues and oppose the politicization of technical issues

Miao Wei said: We also hope to establish a cooperation mechanism with overseas government departments, research institutions, and enterprises to jointly study how to prevent 5G security issues. This is a common responsibility of all of us to ensure safety and promote development.

On the issue of security, we oppose the politicization of a technical issue, or even the claim that promoting the use of Chinese technology and products will cause problems or even affect national security. This is an exaggeration and is actually impossible. We still hope to return to the technical level and work with more countries to study how to seek benefits and avoid harm, and how to make 5G better serve all mankind.

6. Adopt a “laying eggs along the way” strategy to promote the implementation of 5G applications

Miao Wei said: In the process of cultivating 5G applications, we can adopt the strategy of "laying eggs along the way" to ensure that 5G applications are continuously implemented.

For example, in the field of Internet of Vehicles, he pointed out that there have been different debates at home and abroad in the past, whether to promote the application of DSRC technology in Internet of Vehicles or to promote the application of C-V2X in Internet of Vehicles. Now more and more countries have realized and made decisions, and it is still the best choice to promote the application of C-V2X technology on roads and vehicles.

"We have established a cooperation mechanism with relevant ministries and commissions, and are promoting the establishment of cooperation mechanisms by standards committees related to automobiles, communications, transportation and public security, strengthening the development and application of cross-industry C-V2X key standards, and accelerating the improvement of the Internet of Vehicles standard system."

7. Reduce investment amount and improve investment effectiveness

Wen Ku said: "Investment is a must, because it is an important direction for the future evolution of the entire network. Whoever does not invest will fall behind in this regard. Of course, investment is stressful." Last year was the early stage of 5G network construction, and various operators increased their network investment. In 2020, there will be a large wave of new 5G network construction to accelerate the improvement of network coverage, especially to expand network coverage as it conforms to the law of development. After the large-scale development of 5G operations, operators will gradually show a return on investment.

Of course, we see that the scale of investment is relatively large, and operating companies need to work together to reduce or invest more efficiently.

8. Encourage local governments to provide conditions for 5G development

Miao Wei said: We must continue to encourage basic telecommunications companies to increase investment and steadily advance 5G network construction. After the ITU R16 standard is officially established this year, we must focus on accelerating the construction of independent networking networks, as only independent networking can further demonstrate the performance of 5G.

In addition, we will vigorously explore industry-oriented 5G network architecture to meet the personalized needs of different industries. We will also encourage and support local governments to actively introduce relevant support policies to provide convenient conditions for the construction and development of 5G networks.

9. 5G infrastructure sharing and co-construction to reduce costs

Wen Ku said: We try to make base stations more economical and better, so as to reduce the investment of operators. "We have been doing co-construction and sharing over the years. For example, each base station used to be a tower. Since the establishment of the tower company, many base stations of operators are hung on one tower. This can reduce the cost of operators in terms of land use, station use, and even electricity use."

In order to invest in and build 5G networks better and more effectively, China Telecom and China Unicom have chosen to work together to build a 5G network covering the whole country out of internal motivation. The 5G frequencies of the two companies are also adjacent, and the 200M bandwidth of a base station can be used to share the two networks to achieve 5G coverage and produce better investment results.

10. Adhere to cooperation and openness to create a global unified standard

Miao Wei said: We have an organization called IMT-2020, and we have now expanded it to IMT-2030. This organization is mainly based on the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, and organizes forces from all over the world to jointly devote themselves to the research of next-generation standards.

In the 3G era, there were three standards; in the 4G era, there were two global standards; in the 5G era, there is a unified global standard. The benefits of a unified global standard are self-evident, and we must cherish the hard-earned results. In the 6G era, no matter what it is, we must also be committed to promoting a unified global standard. In this process, we must adhere to the path of openness and cooperation, and will never study China's standards behind closed doors, which would make us independent of the world.