The number of connected terminals reaches 66 million, and more than 400,000 base stations have been opened——
my country's 5G network construction speed exceeds expectations
Economic Daily·China Economic Net reporter Huang Xin
As of the end of June, the number of 5G terminals connected to China's network reached 66 million, and 178 5G mobile phone terminals have been licensed for network access. The cumulative shipment of 5G mobile phones has exceeded 77 million units. Three basic telecommunications companies have established and opened more than 40 5G base stations across the country. Ten thousand. The rapid progress of 5G network construction can better meet the differentiated life needs of the broad masses of people and drive the rapid growth of information consumption.
At the 2020 (19th) China Internet Conference held a few days ago, Liu Liehong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that it is necessary to speed up the construction of 5G networks and deepen the co-construction and sharing of telecommunications infrastructure. At the same time, accelerate the deployment of 5G applications and promote the innovation of "5G+" converged applications.
How many 5G users are there? Wen Ku, Director of the Information and Communication Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, spokesperson Wen Ku recently revealed, “We have reported a more convincing number regarding 5G users. As of the end of June, there were 66 million 5G terminals connected to the Internet. , And with the replacement of ordinary people’s mobile phones, this data is still rising month by month.”
Number of users ranked first in the world
Li Zhen, an industrial research analyst at the Innovation Research Institute of Peking University Science and Technology Park, said that the number of 5G base stations and users in China is currently the world's first. The continuous decline in the price of 5G terminals has reduced the cost of users accessing 5G networks, and promoted the rapid number of 5G users. increase.
The development of 5G users in China has entered the fast lane. The latest data released by the three major operators shows that in June 2020, China Mobile's 5G package users reached 70.199 million, a monthly increase of 14.59 million; China Telecom's 5G package users reached 37.84 million, a monthly increase 7.79 million households; China Unicom said it will not announce it temporarily because of different statistical calibers.
However, some consumers report that the three major operators have irregular behavior in order to increase the number of users of their own 5G packages. In this regard, Wenku said that in order to better promote the development of 5G, in the market competition among operating companies, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology hopes to create a fair and dynamic market competition pattern and never interfere with the specific pricing of companies. However, some operating companies may have compulsory irregularities in some areas when they promote users to use 5G packages. In order to protect the rights and interests of users, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has formulated a series of rules and regulations, stipulating that operators cannot open users without their consent. Any package.
"In the next step, local communications administrations will pay close attention to the situation in various provinces and regions, strengthen supervision and inspection, especially to investigate and deal with the violations of the legitimate rights and interests of users, such as upgrading user packages without user consent, according to law." Wenku said.
Wenku also introduced that 178 5G mobile phone terminals have obtained network access permits, and the cumulative shipment of 5G mobile phones has exceeded 77 million units. According to the reporter's understanding, Huawei, Vivo, Xiaomi and other companies have already launched a variety of 5G mobile phones in the market. There are plenty of options for purchase and the threshold is significantly lower. The share of 5G mobile phones in the proportion of terminal sales continues to increase, and 5G mobile phone shipments are expected to reach 180 million units this year.
Wenku said that at present, 5G mobile phones have high-end phones of several thousand yuan, as well as medium and low-end phones of more than 1,000 yuan, which can better meet the differentiated life needs of the people and drive the rapid growth of information consumption.
Accelerate the extension of network coverage
According to Wenku, my country has recently opened an average of more than 15,000 5G base stations every week. As of the end of June, three basic telecommunications companies had built and opened more than 400,000 5G base stations nationwide.
"2020 is the year of acceleration of China's 5G network construction. Although 5G network coverage has slowed down due to the epidemic, by the end of 2020, the country's major first-tier cities will complete the basic 5G network coverage." Senior analyst of Zhongcheng Think Tank Zhang Yang said.
Wenku also said that it is necessary to promote basic telecommunications companies to seize the construction period, with the goal of supporting independent networking models, and accelerate the construction of high-quality 5G networks covering the whole country with advanced technology and high quality. Continue to support China Telecom and China Unicom to take the lead in building a 5G network with a large bandwidth of 200M and a low economic cost through joint construction and sharing. Support the further promotion of the integration of the advantageous resources of basic telecommunications enterprises, accelerate the network construction in major cities, and gradually extend coverage to key counties and towns with conditions and even some rural areas.
At the 2020 China Internet Conference, Dong Xin, general manager of China Mobile, introduced that he will strive to exceed the annual construction tasks of 5G base stations to ensure that cities above the prefecture level provide 5G services. Previously, China Mobile had announced that it would build 300,000 5G base stations within 2020. Li Zhengmao, general manager of China Telecom, also introduced that up to now, the total number of 5G base stations in China Telecom's entire network has exceeded 200,000, and it is expected that more than 300,000 5G base stations will be provided in service by the end of the third quarter of 2020.
In September last year, China Telecom and China Unicom announced that they would cooperate to build a 5G access network to jointly promote 5G network deployment. In May of this year, China Mobile and China Radio and Television announced that they will jointly invest in the construction of a 5G wireless network in the golden band of 700MHz at a ratio of 1:1.
The implementation of the 5G co-construction and sharing mechanism has promoted the rapid popularization of 5G and has also greatly reduced costs. According to Zhang Quan, deputy general manager of China Tower, due to higher frequencies, denser site locations, and greater power consumption, 5G construction and operation costs will be 2 to 4 times that of 4G. Cost reduction through sharing has increasingly become an industry consensus . 97% of the 5G base stations that have been built are realized through sharing.
It is understood that the goal of the three major operators at the beginning of this year is to open more than 600,000 5G base stations this year. Obviously, the current 5G network construction speed has exceeded expectations.
Wenku emphasized that the policy dividends of local governments at all levels will be fully released, and governments at all levels will be encouraged to implement policies "locally", make full use of the policy toolbox in 5G power supply, construction, application, and capital, and combine the advantages of local industries and digital transformation. Demand, the rapid transformation of 5G development into a key driving force supporting high-quality economic development.
Deepen exploration of integrated applications
Liu Liehong said that it is necessary to promote the “5G+” integrated application innovation, in-depth implementation of the industrial Internet innovation and development strategy, accelerate the deep integration of cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, etc. with the real economy, and support the digital transformation of the industry.
"5G applications are not only consumer Internet, but also industrialized applications of the Internet of Everything, including a large number of industrial applications such as the Internet of Vehicles, the Internet of Things, and industrial manufacturing. These industrial Internet applications will automatically integrate to form a new ecology." Zhang Yang said.
At the 2020 China Internet Conference, Tang Daosheng, senior executive vice president of Tencent, believes that the future network will show the characteristics of multi-network superposition and dynamic connection. For example, the vehicle-road collaboration of intelligent networked vehicles requires the integration of 5G and the Internet of Things. Cars use on-board sensors, roadside cameras and other Internet of Things facilities to identify the location and speed of cars and pedestrians; through the millisecond-level transmission of the 5G network, the information transmission between the car and the road is completed, and the operating efficiency and safety of the vehicle are improved.
According to Dong Xin, China Mobile will accelerate the construction and promotion of content, rights, 5G messaging, mobile certification and other products, promote the deployment of smart home products such as smart networking and home security, build a new smart city core platform, and promote 100 5G in 15 industries Demonstration application landing. Li Zhengmao said that China Telecom is continuing to intensify the technological innovation of 5G independent networking in the field of cloud-network integration, and provide end-to-end, customizable information industry applications for industrial Internet, smart cities, and media live broadcasts. Liang Baojun, deputy general manager of China Unicom, also said that 5G converged applications need to be further explored and deepened by related companies. At present, China Unicom has nearly 1,000 upstream, midstream and downstream ecological partners.
Dong Xin said frankly that the current 5G effectiveness is still facing the "three major difficulties" such as a sharp rise in construction and operation costs, insufficient technological innovation coordination capabilities, and an industrial integration system that has not yet been established. It requires cross-industry cooperation, breakthrough innovation paradigms, and full release of network innovation efficiency.
"To achieve the same frequency resonance between 5G and thousands of industries." Wenku revealed that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will fully mobilize the enthusiasm of 5G applications in all industries and promote the two-way opening and cooperation of communications and related industries. And study and sort out the restrictive factors of 5G application promotion, further clarify application requirements, clarify technical solutions, explore business models, and effectively open up the application channels of 5G and various industries.
Huang Xin