China's 5G terminal users exceed 400 million, and 5G application innovation cases exceed 10,000——

What has changed in the 5G network?

  Our reporter Kong Dechen

  "People's Daily Overseas Edition" (11th edition on November 30, 2021)

  Recently, operators such as China Mobile and China Unicom have successively announced the launch of 5G news trial commercial use.

Some provinces and cities have tried to use 5G messages to push cold wave warning information to the public and provide emergency fire alarm services.

The commercial field of 5G is constantly expanding.

At present, 5G network coverage has been achieved in all prefecture-level cities and urban areas, more than 97% of counties and urban areas, and 40% of towns and towns in the country.

What major changes has 5G brought to life and industry?

What is the blueprint for the development of 5G during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period?

In the past two years, 5G has developed really fast

  ——At present, China has built more than 1.15 million 5G base stations, which is the world's largest and most technologically advanced 5G independent networking network

  Faster internet speeds, smoother video viewing, and more "silky" game playing-consumers have felt tangible benefits from 5G in the past two years of commercial use.

Behind this is the rapid development of 5G network construction. China's 5G development has made remarkable achievements in the world.

  According to Xie Cun, Director of the Information and Communication Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China has built more than 1.15 million 5G base stations, accounting for more than 70% of the world, and is the world's largest and most technologically advanced 5G independent networking network.

5G terminal users reached 450 million, accounting for more than 80% of the world.

  A large number of 5G base stations provide strong support for consumers to surf the Internet smoothly, and meet the increasing traffic demand of users.

According to data recently released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of the end of October, the total number of mobile phone users of the three basic telecommunications companies reached 1.641 billion, a net increase of 46.94 million over the end of the previous year. Among them, the number of 5G mobile phone terminal connections reached 471 million, which was a net increase over the end of the previous year. 273 million households were added, and the value of mobile Internet access traffic hit a new high.

  However, many consumers have doubts: Is 5G commercial only faster network speed?

Why does it feel that the changes brought to life are not as big as imagined?

  A number of interviewed experts explained that consumers are not sufficiently aware of the special features of 5G, not because market expectations are too high, nor is it because the industry has exaggerated it, but because the current 5G development is too early, and the breadth and depth of 5G base station coverage Still inadequate, and consumer applications have not really exploded.

  As one of the important applications on the consumer side, the emergence of 5G news has attracted huge attention.

Since the three major operators jointly released the "5G Message White Paper" planning to commercialize 5G messages last year, more than a year later, China Unicom recently announced the launch of 5G message trial commercialization across the country and launched the "5G Message Experience Recruitment Campaign" for corporate customers Provide free 5G messaging experience package with individual users, and friendly experience users will enjoy a richer, more convenient, smart and safe new 5G messaging experience.

  Industry insiders believe that with the large-scale commercial use of 5G, the increase in the penetration rate of smart terminals, and the development of digital and payment technologies, 5G news will usher in huge market opportunities.

By then, the scene power of trillions of short messages will be unstoppable, and RCS (Converged Communication) is expected to become the main entrance to future intelligent terminal scene services.

  Chen Min, a professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said that as a major change in the communication system, 5G is similar to the previous 3G and 4G, and it is expected to take about 10 years of development.

"The current 5G development stage is still in the market start-up period, and it is more geared towards industrial interconnection, because the requirements for industrial interconnection scenarios are relatively clear." Chen Min said, "I believe that in the later period, more and more consumer-oriented applications will be Deploy gradually."

Industry applications continue to expand

  ——In the air classroom, remote diagnosis 5G+ emergency first aid, remote equipment control, etc., 5G improves the quality and efficiency of intelligent manufacturing

  In the fields of education, medical care, and information consumption, 5G applications are accelerating.

  According to Xie Cun, in the field of education, many colleges and universities across the country are actively exploring, and a number of typical applications and benchmarking projects such as 5G aerial classrooms, 5G virtual laboratories, 5G cloud examination rooms, and 5G smart campuses have emerged, in order to develop 5G in smart education. In the medical field, more than 600 tertiary hospitals across the country have carried out 5G+ emergency first aid, remote diagnosis, health management and other applications; in the field of information consumption, AR tour guide, 4K/8K live broadcast, immersive teaching and other 5G Application, greatly enhance the consumer experience in the fields of game entertainment, live events, residential services, etc.

  In addition to life scenarios, the changes brought by 5G to industrial scenarios are also quite obvious.

As an important support for promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and cultivating the development of advanced manufacturing, the application of "5G + Industrial Internet" has been deepened to improve the quality and efficiency of intelligent manufacturing.

  On November 21, China Mobile, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., China Coal Industry Association, and China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) jointly released the "5G Underground Mobile Communication Network (5G DMN)" white paper to build an underground intelligent integrated communication network and build 5G New industrial space.

Peng Honghua, President of Huawei’s 5G Product Line, said: “Based on the 4 technical systems of the 5G DMN vision, Huawei has proposed the technical innovation direction of 5G DMN to build a fully flexible, fully-aware, and fully-converged network for underground communications to solve the problem of digital intelligence in the mining industry. The key challenge encountered in the transformation is to help build a fully intelligent mine system with intelligent perception, intelligent decision-making and automatic execution."

  Prior to this, Huawei and Jinneng Holding Group cooperated to set up a mining laboratory, which has formed effective practices in remote equipment control, unmanned intelligent inspection, and equipment collaborative operation.

"The application of 5G to daily life is more to meet the downward demands of ordinary consumers. For underground mines, the amount of monitoring data uploaded is large and the amount of instructions downloaded is small." said Zhao Zhipeng, director of Huawei's global 5G marketing department, and the company has responded accordingly. The adjustment meets the application requirements of industrial upload and down-control.

  Through the independent 5G private network, Inspur 5G products support Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle Co., Ltd. to realize the intelligent upgrade of the automated parts delivery system of the vehicle production line, and the overall production line production capacity has increased by 26%; combined drone inspection big data with image video big data , State Grid Jiaxing Power Supply Company conducted a refined investigation of hidden dangers on transmission towers to ensure reliable power supply in the region; Quanzhou Water Group cooperated with Baidu Smart Cloud to realize intelligent identification and management of equipment operation detection, effectively reducing production risks... "Currently, 5G nationwide There have been more than 10,000 cases of application innovation, covering 22 important industries in the national economy." Xie Cun said that vertical industry application scenarios such as industrial manufacturing, mining, and ports have accelerated their scale implementation, and the initial production auxiliary business has been focused on equipment. The development of core business such as control and quality control is a relatively mature field of current 5G application solutions.

  On November 22, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the second batch of "5G + Industrial Internet" typical application scenarios and key industry practices.

Intelligent tally in the factory, global logistics monitoring, virtual field service, and enterprise collaboration...These are being used as typical application scenarios and are being promoted in more and more production and manufacturing links.

Han Xia, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that the important role of 5G and Industrial Internet in supporting the real economy to reduce costs, improve quality and efficiency, and green development continues to appear.

Create a new ecosystem of deep integration

  —— In the next 5 years, we will strive to have 26 5G base stations per 10,000 people, and gradually form a development situation where 5G applications are "going sail"

  "By 2025, a new digital infrastructure system featuring high-speed ubiquitous, integrated interconnection, smart, green, safe and reliable will be basically completed, and a solid development foundation will be built to support the construction of a manufacturing power, a network power, and a digital China." The "Fourth Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Information and Communication Industry" has set clear goals for the construction of new infrastructure in the next five years.

So, how will 5G develop?

  ——Establish development goals.

"On the basis of the world's largest optical fiber and mobile broadband network, we will strive to build the world's largest 5G independent networking network during the '14th Five-Year Plan' period, and strive to have 26 5G base stations per 10,000 people, realizing urban and township Comprehensive coverage, basic coverage of administrative villages, and in-depth coverage of key application scenarios. The 5G access rate of administrative villages is expected to reach 80%." Xie Cun said.

In addition, breakthroughs must be achieved in the construction of integrated infrastructure.

Xie Cun said that in the future, we will basically build a high-quality industrial Internet network covering all regions and industries, and create a batch of "5G + Industrial Internet" benchmarks.

"Industrial Internet logo analysis system is more complete, service capabilities are greatly improved, and the number of public service nodes is striving to reach 150."

  -Promote the accelerated transformation of 5G applications to industrialization and scale.

5G converged applications are an important engine to promote the digital, networked, and intelligent transformation of the economy and society.

According to Xie Cun, during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, for the three major areas of information consumption, real economy, and people's livelihood services, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will work with relevant ministries and local governments to focus on promoting 5G applications in 15 industries, create a new ecosystem of in-depth integration, and realize 5G in key areas We have made breakthroughs in the depth and breadth of the application, building the dual pillars of the technology industry and the standard system, and gradually forming a development situation in which the 5G application "set sail".

"At the same time, we also support local governments, industry associations, industry alliances, etc., to summarize the results of 5G industry application development in a timely manner, and through various methods, accelerate the replication and promotion of thousands of industries, and fully empower the construction of Digital China."

  ——Improve the construction level of "5G+Industrial Internet".

“At present, there are more than 1,800 '5G+Industrial Internet' projects under construction, top-level nodes and 158 second-level nodes in the five major countries of logo analysis are online, and the total number of logo registrations is nearly 60 billion; more than 100 influential industrial Internet platforms are connected. The number of equipment exceeds 76 million sets." Wang Peng, deputy director of the Information and Communication Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, introduced that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, it is necessary to accelerate the use of 5G and other emerging network technologies to upgrade and transform industrial networks, build an independent and controllable identification analysis system, and expand Mark the scope of services and promote the large-scale application of signs.

  Xie Cun said that in order to achieve the goals of the "Plan", the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has recently begun to organize and implement special actions focusing on 5G, gigabit optical networks, and industrial Internet.

In the future, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will accelerate the digital development of the economy and society and achieve high-quality development of the industry.