Built 1.396 million base stations and nearly 500 million end users —
5G becomes the new engine of economic growth
Our reporter Huang Xin
my country's 5G network construction and application are accelerating.
As of November this year, 1.396 million 5G base stations have been built, 5G terminal users have reached 497 million, and more than 1,800 "5G + Industrial Internet" projects are under construction.
While significantly stimulating consumption, 5G has also played an important role in stabilizing investment and driving the development of the industrial chain.
Experts believe that the new digital infrastructure represented by 5G is the core of the new infrastructure and has become an important engine for driving a new round of economic growth.
Network construction advances both quantity and quality
Continuous coverage of outdoor 5G signals was achieved within the Fifth Ring Road in Beijing, Anhui Province completed the goal of "5G networks basically achieve regional coverage above the township level" two years ahead of schedule, and all key districts and counties in Chongqing achieved full coverage of 5G networks... The speed of 5G network construction continues accelerate.
"China's 5G development has achieved world-leading remarkable achievements." According to Xie Cun, Director of the Information and Communication Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, my country has built more than 70% of the world's 5G base stations, which is the world's largest and most technologically advanced 5G independent networking network, all prefecture-level cities and urban areas, more than 97% of counties and urban areas, and 40% of towns and townships across the country have achieved 5G network coverage; 5G terminal users account for more than 80% of the world; the country’s 5G application innovation cases exceed 10,000 It covers multiple industries such as industry, medical care, education, and transportation.
my country's 5G development also has leading advantages in terms of standards and technology.
Public data shows that among the global 5G standard essential patents, the number of patent declarations by Chinese companies ranks first in the world. Chinese companies have actively participated in and led the completion of the formulation of some 5G international standards and played an important role.
Among them, Huawei, as an important technical contributor to the 5G standard, has announced the basic patent rate for the 5G standard.
In March of this year, Ding Jianxin, head of Huawei’s Intellectual Property Department, announced that Huawei’s upper limit on the patent license fee for a single mobile phone that follows the 5G standard is 2.5 US dollars.
At the same time, my country's 5G terminals continue to be enriched.
According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, from January to November this year, my country’s cumulative shipments of 5G mobile phones amounted to 239 million units, a year-on-year increase of 65.3%.
Xie Cun said that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, my country will build the world's largest 5G independent networking network, and strive to have 26 5G base stations per 10,000 people, to achieve full coverage of cities and towns, basic coverage of administrative villages, and key applications In-depth coverage of the scene, in which the 5G access rate of administrative villages is expected to reach 80%.
“By 2025, my country’s 5G base stations will reach more than 3.6 million, and priority will be given to completing 5G network coverage in key areas. We will increase the promotion and application of new technologies. Application requirements promote the innovation and maturity of virtual private network construction models, operation services, and technical solutions in the 5G industry." said Peng Jian, deputy director of the Institute of Radio Management, China Electronics Information Industry Development Research Institute.
5G applications set sail
In JD’s 5G intelligent logistics park, unmanned heavy trucks, unmanned light trucks, unmanned inspection robots, etc. are automatically and remotely dispatched and driven. The face recognition system performs multi-level employee authority control for parks, warehouses, and sorting. AR (augmented reality) glasses help operators automatically identify products and assist operations in combination with visual instructions.
At the Youngor factory in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China Unicom’s 5G-enabled MES system issued instructions. The fabrics are "queued" one by one in the flow shop. The cut fabrics automatically enter the sewing process, and the sewn tops can accurately match the pants. Complete the "transformation" from tailoring to ready-to-wear.
5G applications are accelerating their integration into thousands of industries, becoming an important engine for promoting the digital, networked, and intelligent transformation of the economy and society.
According to statistics, there are currently more than 10,000 cases of 5G application innovation across the country, covering 22 important industries in the national economy.
“5G+Industrial Internet” has taken the lead in deployment in ten key industries such as mining, steel, electric power, petrochemical and chemical industries, forming 20 typical application scenarios such as remote equipment control, machine vision quality inspection, and production energy efficiency control.
Among them, vertical industry application scenarios such as industrial manufacturing, mining, and ports have accelerated their scale implementation. The initial production auxiliary business has been expanded to core businesses such as equipment control and quality control. It is a relatively mature field of current 5G application solutions.
5G applications in education, medical care, and information consumption are also accelerating.
A batch of typical applications and benchmarking projects such as 5G aerial classrooms, 5G virtual laboratories, 5G cloud examination rooms, and 5G smart campuses have emerged, accumulating experience for the development of 5G pilot applications in smart education; more than 600 tertiary hospitals across the country have launched 5G+ Emergency and first aid, remote diagnosis, health management and other applications; 5G applications such as AR tour guide, 4K/8K live broadcast, immersive teaching, etc., greatly enhance the consumer experience in the information consumption fields such as game entertainment, event live broadcast, and residential services.
Xie Cun said that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, it will focus on promoting 5G applications in 15 industries in the three major areas of information consumption, real economy, and people's livelihood services, creating a new ecosystem of in-depth integration, and achieving breakthroughs in the depth and breadth of 5G applications in key areas. Constructing the dual pillars of the technology industry and the standard system, and gradually forming a development situation where 5G applications "set sail".
Huge potential for stable growth
“As an important component of new infrastructure, 5G can play a direct role in stabilizing investment through the deployment of a batch of 5G new infrastructure projects, and promote the coordinated and stable development of upstream and downstream enterprises in the 5G industry chain. More importantly, with 5G Digital technology represented by it is an important engine for the digital transformation of the economy and society, and has huge potential in promoting consumption, helping upgrades, and cultivating new drivers of economic development," said Peng Jian.
According to data released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the three basic telecom operators plan to spend a total of 184.7 billion yuan in 5G capital expenditures in 2021, an increase of 5.1% from 2020.
Ding Yun, executive director of Huawei and president of operator BG, introduced that in countries and regions where 5G is developing rapidly, operators that have invested heavily in 5G have achieved remarkable commercial returns.
At present, the penetration rate of 5G users in China, South Korea, Kuwait and other countries has crossed the critical point of 20%, and operators have entered a new spiral development pattern of user growth, business returns, and network construction.
The spillover effect of 5G is significant. The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology predicts that in 2021, 5G will directly drive the total economic output of 1.3 trillion yuan, directly drive the economic value-added of about 300 billion yuan, indirectly drive the total output of about 3.38 trillion yuan, and indirectly drive the economic value-added. About 1.23 trillion yuan, an increase of 33%, 39%, 31% and 31% respectively over 2020.
5G builds greater market potential and investment space in vertical industries.
“With the continuous evolution of 5G standards, the continuous improvement of 5G networks, and the continuous enrichment of 5G products, 5G’s enabling role in vertical industries such as manufacturing, transportation, logistics, ports, mining, power, oil and gas, and agriculture has become increasingly prominent. Assist vertical industries to accelerate digital transformation and promote industry cost reduction and efficiency enhancement." said Peng Jian.
From the perspective of promoting digital transformation, how to promote the next development of 5G?
Xiao Yaqing, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said that the construction of 5G and Gigabit optical networks will be carried out in a steady and orderly manner, and the large-scale construction of virtual private networks in the 5G industry will be accelerated to lay a solid foundation for digital transformation of the network infrastructure.
Promote the large-scale development of 5G applications, focus on key industries such as manufacturing, mining, power, ports, and medical care, and deeply explore typical application scenarios at the production line and workshop level of "5G + Industrial Internet", and create a batch of 5G fully connected factory benchmarks.
Our reporter Huang Xin