China's 5G enters a critical period of large-scale application
On June 6, China's 5G commercial use will celebrate its third anniversary.
According to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of the end of May this year, my country had built more than 1.6 million 5G base stations, accounting for more than 60% of the world's total, and 410 million 5G mobile phone users.
How has our daily life changed in the three years since 5G was commercialized?
In the critical period of large-scale application, in which areas does 5G need to continue to be deeply cultivated?
After the full coverage of 5G is achieved, how far is 6G?
The reporter interviewed Li Shan, director of the 5G Innovation Research Center of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, and Du Jiadong, deputy director of the 5G Application Innovation Center, on these issues.
5G empowers thousands of industries, and continuously cultivates and expands related new technologies, new products, new formats, and new models
Reporter: 5G applications cover many areas of life such as transportation and medical care, with more than 20,000 cases.
In addition to the experience of "faster network speed", what changes has 5G communication brought to daily life?
Li Shan: my country's 5G applications have entered a critical period of large-scale development, focusing on key areas, empowering thousands of industries, and accelerating the launch of new products, new formats, and new models.
In terms of live broadcast of events, etc., at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics, the first Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics with full coverage of 5G networks, "bullet time" 360-degree panoramic playback, "millisecond low" Applications such as time-delay multi-view switching" and "8K VR ultra-high-definition live broadcast" have brought a wonderful viewing experience to global audiences.
In terms of cultural tourism, many scenic spots have launched services such as cloud live broadcast and cloud viewing, as well as 5G Internet celebrity check-in, 5G AR scenic tours, etc., bringing users a richer viewing experience.
In the field of education, many colleges and universities across the country have actively explored, and a number of typical applications such as 5G aerial classrooms, 5G virtual laboratories, 5G cloud examination rooms, and 5G smart campuses have emerged.
In the field of information consumption, domestic operators provide consumers with leisure and entertainment applications such as 5G cloud games, 5G+4K/8K ultra-high-definition live broadcast and interaction.
Du Jia understands: In the context of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the role of 5G in enabling smart medical care is particularly obvious.
More than 600 tertiary hospitals across the country have carried out 5G applications in emergency first aid, remote diagnosis, health management and other scenarios, effectively improving the people's sense of gain, happiness and security.
Most of the public transportation and crowded areas such as railway stations, airports, subways use 5G + thermal imaging technology, which can quickly and accurately complete the temperature detection and monitoring of a large number of people, identify individuals with temperature differences, and at the same time, the data is more accurate and rapid in real time. return.
The high-speed and reliable 5G communication network has also become the infrastructure for further digitalization and intelligence of nucleic acid collection workstations.
In some cities, 5G nucleic acid collection workstations have been put into use one after another, actively helping the "15-minute nucleic acid service circle".
The workstation of several square meters integrates various functions such as access control, disinfection, temperature control, video monitoring, and 5G cloud medical care and intelligent terminal, which can realize identity verification, press disinfection, medical waste treatment, information upload, data analysis, etc. The whole process service of delivery, inspection and reporting" improves the sampling efficiency and optimizes the staffing.
In terms of pre-hospital first aid, the traditional first aid is that the ambulance pulls the patient to the hospital before carrying out inspection and rescue, and the whole process takes a long time.
With the assistance of 5G, the moment the patient is put into the car, medical staff can use 5G medical equipment to complete a series of basic examinations, and transmit key information such as medical images, patient signs, and conditions to the hospital in real time through the 5G network. The pre-hospital and the hospital are seamlessly connected, and pre-operative preparations are made in time.
At the same time, the "5G+ Remote Consultation System" can make full use of the resources of high-quality experts to receive images of the treatment site. Through the remote consultation system, experts can consult with critically ill and critically ill hospitals in remote areas, and can provide timely treatment guidance.
In terms of aging-appropriate services, the integration of 5G technology with perception and artificial intelligence can bring great convenience to the maintenance of the health of the elderly and the improvement of living quality.
In terms of physical health, 5G can be used to realize all-weather, all-dimensional intelligent monitoring of the elderly’s pulse, blood pressure, etc. for the elderly’s physical function decline, chronic diseases and other frequent situations, and send the data to the background doctor in time, which is convenient for early detection and treatment of the disease. .
In terms of living, 5G anti-fall mats, sleep monitoring, one-button intelligent alarm and other applications can effectively improve the living quality of the elderly, especially for the elderly living alone, which can effectively prevent accidents.
Concurrently build consumer-oriented (to C) and enterprise-oriented (to B) networks, continue to expand 5G coverage and expand 5G application scenarios over the past three years
Reporter: Since the issuance of 5G commercial licenses in 2019, China's 5G communications business has gone through three years.
In the past three years, what changes are taking place in the focus of my country's 5G construction?
Du Jia understands: Under the guidance of the "moderately advanced" network construction principle of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the scale of my country's 5G network has shown leapfrog development.
In 2019, half a year after the issuance of 5G commercial licenses, there were over 130,000 5G base stations in my country.
In 2020, more than 718,000 5G base stations have been opened.
In 2021, there will be 1.425 million 5G base stations in my country, 10.1 5G base stations per 10,000 people, and 355 million 5G mobile phone users.
By 2022, the construction of 1.6 million base stations has been completed so far, making it the world's first country based on 5G independent networking.
The 5G construction strategy is different from the 4G network construction. my country's 5G network construction is to C and to B network construction in parallel.
In the to C field, it is expected that the 5G network will basically meet the needs of consumer applications this year.
In terms of to B network construction, China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom have all launched 5G industry virtual private network brands, and began to build a 5G to B network for the industry to provide the industry with more real-time and reliable services. 5G industry There are more than 5325 virtual private networks.
Li Shan: In the initial stage of my country's 5G network construction, the main task is to expand the coverage.
Densely populated areas such as cities are the focus of 5G coverage.
In terms of the speed of 5G construction, the number of newly built base stations in my country the year before and last year was around 600,000.
In just three years, my country has built the world's largest 5G network. At present, the 5G coverage rate of all prefecture-level cities has reached 100%, and the coverage rate of townships has exceeded 90%.
Now the focus of 5G coverage has begun to shift from urban to rural areas.
According to the deployment of the "Key Points for Digital Rural Development in 2022" jointly issued by the Central Cyberspace Administration and other five departments, by the end of this year, the 5G network will cover key towns and some key administrative villages, and the Internet penetration rate in rural areas will exceed 60%.
In addition, the optimization of 5G network construction will also be the focus of the next step.
"The 5G signal is poor and the indoor signal is weak in places with many people", this is the feeling of many people.
Because in the early stage of construction, the network coverage focuses on breadth. With the growth of users, traffic in hotspot areas will surge during peak periods, resulting in poor user experience.
In addition, the network coverage is gradually expanded from the outdoors to the indoors, and the signal is weak at the initial stage due to insufficient indoor coverage.
Therefore, with the continuous growth of 5G users, it is more and more critical to optimize and improve network quality and improve indoor network coverage.
In addition to continuing to expand coverage, the focus of 5G development is gradually focusing on 5G applications.
Especially in recent years, our country has proposed measures to expand 5G applications in important policies at all levels, and 5G application scenarios have been greatly enriched.
The large-scale development of 5G applications will go through four stages.
The first stage is the warm-up stage. The main task is to carry out technical verification to verify the availability of 5G technology in the industry.
Many industries have already crossed this stage, and the uncertainty of technology has been eliminated.
The second stage is the initial stage. The main task is to carry out scenario adaptation, clarify scenarios and needs, and form solutions. Most of the key industries are currently in this stage.
The third stage is the growth stage. This stage is mainly to carry out industry adaptation. 5G application products and solutions are constantly adapting and commercial exploration with various industries.
The fourth stage is the stage of large-scale development. Leading enterprises realize large-scale applications, reduce costs as soon as possible, achieve large-scale mass production, and find out business models.
In this stage, in addition to the large-scale cost reduction of leading enterprises, it should also be gradually extended to small and medium-sized enterprises.
At present, a few leading industries, such as industrial Internet and medical care, have already entered the growth stage and have begun to adapt to the industry. 5G applications in most industries are still in the first and second stages.
5G is in the ascendant, 6G has begun to explore, and the upgrading of communication standards from generation to generation is not only to meet current needs, but also to lay a foundation for the future
Reporter: From 3G "breakthrough" to 4G "running side by side" to 5G "leading", as a key part of the blueprint for the "14th Five-Year Plan", what kind of development will my country's communications industry usher in in the future?
When will the 6G era come?
Du Jia understands: In the 5G era, my country is a world leader in technology and industry.
In terms of technical standards, nearly 40 companies in my country have participated in the formulation of standards, and have contributed more than 5,000 5G core design manuscripts, accounting for more than 30%, and standard essential patents accounting for 33.5%.
In terms of industry, among the top five network equipment manufacturers in the world, my country has two major manufacturers, Huawei and ZTE, and Huawei ranks first.
In terms of terminals, my country will occupy three of the top five manufacturers in global mobile phone shipments in 2021, namely Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo.
In terms of mobile chips, my country occupies two of the top five in the world, namely Huawei HiSilicon and UNISOC, whose products have reached the international advanced level.
In terms of 5G applications, there are more than 20,000 5G application projects in my country, covering more than 20 major industry categories such as industry, energy, medical care, and cultural tourism, covering 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in my country and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
In the future, the development of my country's communication industry will mainly move forward in three directions.
The first is to further play the role of 5G and other information technologies in enabling the digital transformation of the industry.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has organized the "Blooming Cup" 5G Application Collection Competition for four consecutive years. The total number of participating projects exceeds 20,000, and there are 7,000 participating units, covering almost all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in my country, which greatly promotes the integration of 5G and the industry.
In the follow-up, it is necessary to promote the construction of ICT (information and communication technology) and industry integration technology and industrial system, promote the integration of information technology and various industries, equipment and system innovation, and use the first-mover advantage of information technology to drive the digital transformation of my country's industries and other industries.
The second is to further consolidate my country's technological and industrial foundation in communications.
In June 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology, guided the industry to set up the IMT-2030 (6G) promotion group to actively promote 6G vision requirements research, key technology research and development, standard development and international cooperation and exchanges.
Research work on the 6G vision and potential technologies is currently underway.
The third is to strengthen international exchanges and enhance my country's international status.
The development of 5G, 6G and other information technologies, including R&D, construction, and application, needs to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, create a good atmosphere for international development, and promote the formation of common standards.
At the same time, with the help of "One Belt, One Road" and other countries to go global, we will realize comprehensive cooperation between my country and foreign countries in technology, industry and application, so that "Chinese experience" can benefit more people.
Li Shan: In the development history of mobile communication technology, China has experienced the process of "1G blank, 2G following, 3G breakthrough, and 4G running concurrently".
Until the advent of the 5G era, China began to "lead" global communication technology.
The upgrading of communication standards from generation to generation is not only to meet people's current needs, but also to lay a solid foundation for the future.
The innovation and change of all walks of life triggered by the change of communication technology is far more valuable than the development of the communication industry itself.
According to the development law of mobile communications in the tenth generation, major countries and regions in the world have started 6G research, and accelerated the research and development of 6G innovative technologies by increasing capital investment in scientific research projects and other measures.
my country attaches great importance to the development of 6G, and the "14th Five-Year Plan" outline clearly proposes a forward-looking layout of 6G network technology reserves.
my country has established an IMT-2030 (6G) promotion group to coordinate my country's 6G technology research and industry promotion.
As the "leader" of 5G communication, my country can make full use of the experience of 5G commercial use to consolidate the foundation of 6G development, in-depth analysis and summary of application directions that are difficult to meet with existing 5G, and gradually clarify the potential business scenarios of 6G, and guide the formation and improvement of 6G vision requirements. , so that the achievements of digital development can better benefit the people, society and the world.