5G has been commercialized for three years.
According to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently, as of the end of September, the total number of 5G base stations in my country reached 2.22 million, a net increase of 795,000 over the end of the previous year, accounting for 20.7% of the total number of mobile base stations, and an increase of 6.4 percentage points compared to the end of the previous year.
At the same time, the total number of 5G package users of my country's three major operators has exceeded 1 billion; the number of 5G mobile phone users has reached 510 million, a net increase of 155 million over the end of the previous year, accounting for 30.3% of mobile phone users.
Over the past three years, adhering to the principle of being moderately advanced, my country has carried out 5G network construction in a steady and orderly manner, continued to improve the depth and breadth of network coverage, comprehensively promoted 5G commercial deployment and large-scale applications, actively cultivated and expanded new momentum for economic development, and continued to consolidate economic and social heights. A digital base for quality development.
Build the world's largest boutique network
On an island and reef more than 70 kilometers away from the coast of the Yellow Sea, China Mobile employees built a 5G base station on a 25-meter-high communication tower.
"The download rate is 280.48Mbps, and the upload rate is 179.16Mbps!" After all the hardships, the farthest 5G base station in Jiangsu with a submarine cable of 120 kilometers was finally built, and the wireless network rate in the nearby sea area reached 10 times that of the 4G period.
From cities to villages, from islands to Gobi, from mines to Mount Everest, climbing towers, installing antennas, and laying optical cables... In the three years since 5G was commercialized, my country's network builders have aimed at broader, deeper and more precise goals and tackled tough problems. Overcoming difficulties, it has built the world's largest 5G boutique network with nationwide coverage, advanced technology and high quality.
Zhao Gang, dean of the Saizhi Industry Research Institute, said that in the past three years of commercial use, my country's 5G construction has maintained a leading level in the world.
As of the end of September, my country's 5G base stations accounted for more than 60% of the total number of 5G base stations in the world, and the world's largest 5G network has been built.
5G mobile phone users have exceeded 510 million, making it the largest user group in the world.
"In the three years since 5G commercialization, good progress has been made in network deployment, consumer business and industry applications. As of October, more than 230 operators around the world have launched 5G commercial services, and a total of more than 3 million 5G sites have been deployed. 5G users have reached 700 million. Based on the rapid advancement of network deployment, 5G is jumping from a period of large-scale commercial use to a period of rapid development." said Hu Houkun, rotating chairman of Huawei.
The 5G dividend is gradually being released.
According to Zhao Gang's analysis, one is the bonus of network construction.
5G base station construction investment and smart terminal production have driven the development of the chip and electronic communication product manufacturing industries in the upstream of the 5G industry chain, as well as the consumption of mobile phones and applications in the middle and lower reaches of the 5G industry chain.
The second is the dividend of 5G industry applications.
5G+ industry application is currently the mainstream direction of 5G application. Through the accumulation of more than 20,000 5G industry application demonstration scenarios and cases in the past three years, demonstration enterprises and users in various industries have fully enjoyed the new experience and new value brought by 5G applications. .
The third is the dividend of business growth.
Although the operator's 5G network construction is still in the investment period and the 5G business is still in its infancy, the potential value brought by the 5G network to the business development of telecom operators in the next 3 to 5 years is accelerating. Resources, network and platform service capabilities for the development of digital economy such as artificial intelligence and the Metaverse.
Accelerate and empower thousands of industries
In the Dongfeng commercial vehicle assembly line, the bicycles shuttle back and forth in an orderly manner to distribute large accessories such as engines.
In the past, these scooters used WiFi communication, and frequent freezes resulted in frequent shutdowns of the assembly line.
To this end, Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle applies Inspur 5G products to the core production links to build an intelligent factory for automobile manufacturing. It also builds an augmented reality smart remote collaboration platform based on the Inspur Yunzhou industrial Internet platform to conduct networked collaborative operations.
Under the empowerment of "5G + Industrial Internet", the downtime of Dongfeng commercial vehicle assembly line due to communication interruption has been reduced by 15%, and the overall production capacity of the production line has been increased by 26%, continuously reducing costs and increasing efficiency.
Going to Mount Everest, going down to mines, entering seaports, entering factories, and going to fields, 5G networks are accelerating the empowerment of thousands of industries to realize digital production.
In recent years, in order to promote 5G application innovation and integration and empowerment, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has thoroughly implemented the 5G application "Sailing" action plan, and has cooperated with the National Health Commission and the Ministry of Education to carry out pilot demonstrations such as 5G + medical health and 5G + smart education, and organized with the National Energy Administration. Launched the collection of 5G application cases in the energy field, held the "Blooming Cup" 5G Application Collection Competition and the "Guanghua Cup" Gigabit Optical Network Application Innovation Competition, and collected more than 50,000 5G application cases.
"The current main application of 5G is still the communication package of smartphones, but the most promising application of 5G is the Internet of Things, which is a fully connected factory application in the manufacturing industry with high-density nodes. Telecom operators should cooperate with enterprises to explore new applications. So as to cultivate emerging markets." said Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of Zhejiang University International Business School.
At present, 5G's consumer-oriented business is still the ballast stone of operators' revenue.
Compared with 4G, the user experience of 5G has been greatly improved, and a new consumption behavior represented by video has been formed.
At the same time, 5G industry-oriented applications are becoming a new engine for operators' revenue growth.
In the fields of oil and gas, manufacturing, and transportation, new applications driven by 5G have emerged in many markets around the world.
These applications not only bring about business innovation, but also begin to bring actual business value to operators.
For example, in 2021, my country's three major telecom operators will have more than 3,000 5G commercial projects for enterprises, with revenue exceeding 3.4 billion yuan.
Hu Houkun said that 5G construction should not only meet the requirements, but also build networks around services and experience.
High-quality user experience is the key to attracting consumers to choose more 5G services.
For example, Chinese operators have optimized the network around the Douyin service experience, shortened the first screen delay by 50%, reduced the stall rate to one-tenth of the original, and doubled the traffic.
"The main advantages of 5G networks are high bandwidth, low latency, and wide coverage. Applications that meet these three technical characteristics are the most promising 5G applications." Zhao Gang is currently most optimistic about three types of applications. One is the application of intelligent networked vehicles. The 5G network meets the requirements of autonomous driving for network connection traffic, reliability, low latency and wide coverage.
The second is the application of remote control of machines. Enterprises can remotely control machines in abnormal operating environments through 5G networks to improve production efficiency and ensure operational safety.
The third is extended reality applications. High-bandwidth, low-latency, and wide-coverage applications on the consumer side may come from the connection requirements of various virtual reality devices in the metaverse environment where virtual and reality are integrated.
Scale up applications
At present, my country's 5G network construction is still in the stage of large-scale construction. Although the world's largest network has been built, the breadth and depth of coverage still needs to be further improved.
my country will still adhere to the principle of moderately advanced 5G network construction, and realize the combination of construction and use.
But according to telecom operators' plans, 5G investment will start to decline from 2023.
"The reduction of 5G spending by operators may have a certain impact on communication equipment manufacturers, but it is not to give up 5G, but to optimize the layout of base stations, and 5G construction will continue. The coverage of 5G base stations in densely populated areas has been basically achieved, so operators are very concerned about 5G. The reduction in spending is understandable," Pan and Lin said.
Experts believe that the total number of 5G base stations will still increase in 2023, but at a slower pace.
At present, the base station coverage of 5G network can basically meet the needs of 5G industry applications.
Therefore, next year's 5G network construction is not about volume growth, but about network structure optimization.
Although the investment of operators will slow down, the infrastructure has been basically built, and the next problem to be solved is the problem of large-scale application.
Zhao Gang believes that from the current trend, the large-scale application of 5G will be greatly accelerated.
On the one hand, single-scenario applications on the industry side will be promoted to applications in various industries, such as remote control robots, which can be applied to remote control lathes, construction machinery, mining machinery, logistics vehicles, scalpels and other equipment; the demonstration application of a single enterprise will be applied to the whole world. Industry promotion, such as the promotion of Baowu Group's 5G factory to the entire steel industry.
On the other hand, 5G applications on the consumer side will also accelerate. With the development of the Metaverse, more terminal applications based on technologies such as the Internet of Things, high-definition video, and extended reality will emerge, which will drive 5G applications on the consumer side into a period of rapid growth.
The industry believes that the current phenomenon-level application of 5G has not appeared.
Pan and Lin said that application is the last step in all technological breakthroughs.
Most successful Internet models are based on phenomenal applications and then ecological construction.
In the new economic field in the future, all new technology discussions should be led by application. Technology without application is like a castle in the air. It is necessary to avoid blind action and pay attention to application.
"The social and video applications of 4G were also in a stage of gradual maturity. 5G's mainstream applications such as intelligent connected vehicles, remote control machines, and extended reality are still in their infancy and need a stage of gradual maturity. But as an infrastructure, 5G network It is moderately advanced construction. 5G phenomenal applications will arrive within 1 to 3 years." Zhao Gang said.
Huang Xin