"Three Directions" Form the Key Support for the Post-5G Era-Interview with Duan Xiaodong, Vice President of China Mobile Research Institute

　　Wisdom Eyes on 5G

　　◎Our reporter Liu Yan

　　Duan Xiaodong, vice president of China Mobile Research Institute, recently revealed in an interview with a reporter from Science and Technology Daily that China Mobile will release the "5G-Advanced Network Technology Evolution-Opening a New Era of Intelligent Connectivity of Everything" white paper (hereinafter referred to as the white paper) at the 2021 World 5G Conference. Lock the direction for the follow-up evolution and development of 5G technology.

　　On April 27th, the 3GPP (standards organization) officially confirmed the name of 5G evolution as 5G-Advanced at the 46th PCG (Project Cooperation Group) meeting, marking a new stage in the development of global 5G technology and standards.

　　Duan Xiaodong said that he looks forward to the 2021 World 5G Conference to further promote the in-depth integration of 5G and the industry, and also looks forward to the new development of 5G from all walks of life, industry, university, research and application, and give directions for the continuous innovation of 5G development in my country.

Operators are the backbone of 5G development

　　According to data from the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), as of the end of May 2021, 443 telecom operators in 133 countries and regions around the world have invested in 5G, of which 169 operators in 70 countries and regions have launched 5G Commercial services.

　　my country has issued 5G commercial licenses for more than two years and has achieved remarkable results.

　　According to the latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, my country has built the world's largest 5G SA (independent networking) network, with a total of 961,000 5G base stations opened, and the joint construction of more than 400,000 shared base stations has been promoted.

　　In the 5G era, China Mobile is still the world's largest telecom operator.

　　Duan Xiaodong introduced that at present, more than 70% of the world's 5G base stations are built by China, and 36% of the world's base stations are built by China Mobile.

　　Duan Xiaodong said: “China Mobile not only took the lead in building a 5G network with the largest network scale and the most advanced networking model in the world, but also has the world’s largest user base. As of the end of May, China Mobile’s 5G package has nearly 250 million users, and 5G terminals are connected. More than 160 million, accounting for more than 40% of the world."

　　Duan Xiaodong pointed out that the core goal of 5G is to serve thousands of industries, and the network is the foundation, which is the same as the principle of "building a road to run a good car".

Although the global 5G development has achieved gratifying results, how to release 5G capabilities and truly serve the industry is still a very important issue before us.

Expand the transcript to see the continuous innovation behind

　　The most advanced networking method, the largest network and users, supporting this 5G construction transcript are China Mobile's continuous improvement and innovation of standards and technical systems.

　　In terms of 5G standard achievements, China Mobile has submitted about 3300+ patents and 7000+ manuscripts, and its standard contribution is in the first camp of global operators.

　　It is worth mentioning that China Mobile takes the lead in the international standard of 5G SA architecture and proposes service-oriented architecture (SBA) and protocol system, which is determined by 3GPP as the only infrastructure for 5G SA network.

　　In terms of wireless, China Mobile leads the development of multi-mode, multi-band and large-scale antennas, and has contributed to the improvement of 5G performance and single-user rate.

　　Network slicing and edge computing are currently recognized 5G landmark technologies for the needs of the Internet of Everything era.

China Mobile's contribution to the release of these two technologies in vertical industry service capabilities is particularly prominent.

　　Duan Xiaodong introduced that China Mobile is the main promoter of 5G's native support for edge computing, and 5G is "innate" to support edge computing.

In addition, China Mobile took the lead in proposing a network slicing technology system with guaranteed service quality, promoting the development of slicing end-to-end, and helping thousands of industries to migrate to 5G.

At the same time, China Mobile takes the lead in the formulation of international standards and industry standards such as network slicing architecture, network slicing management framework model, and service quality assurance index system in 3GPP and China Communications Standards Association.

　　In terms of 5G basic transmission, China Mobile proposes a sliced ​​packet network (SPN) 5G next-generation transport network technology architecture, giving the transport network the ability to support the entire 5G development.

The development path in the post-5G era is becoming clearer and clearer

　　The first stage of 5G standards has begun to be commercialized, but 5G standards and technologies are still developing and evolving.

　　Duan Xiaodong said: "5G-Advanced will define new goals and capabilities for the follow-up development of 5G, and 5G will therefore generate greater value. The post-5G era has begun."

　　Duan Xiaodong said that at this point in time, the reason why China Mobile and more than 20 partners in the industry jointly released the white paper is to hope that all walks of life will reach a consensus on some key points in the development of 5G-Advanced networks, so as to facilitate the more orderly formulation and development of standards. The industry is developing healthily.

　　According to Duan Xiaodong, the three concepts of "convergence", "enable" and "intelligence" given in the white paper represent China Mobile's basic judgment and ideas on 5G-Advanced.

　　"Convergence" means that the 5G-Advanced network will further enhance "5G and satellite network integration", "5G and fixed network integration", and "5G and home network integration".

　　"Enablement" means that the 5G-Advanced network will improve the basic network slicing and the iconic capabilities of edge computing, while at the same time it will make the network services more diverse, and make the network quality better in terms of end-to-end quality measurement and assurance, and program simplification. Make sure to make network capabilities more open in terms of time synchronization and location services.

　　"Intelligence" refers to improving the level of network intelligence, reducing operation and maintenance costs, and further promoting the application and integration of intelligent technology in telecommunications networks.

At the same time, research on distributed intelligent architecture and collaborative intelligence between terminals and networks will be carried out.

　　Duan Xiaodong emphasized that China Mobile believes that these three concepts will be the direction of key investment in the next step of 5G development, and hopes that the white paper will give more guidance to 5G technology research and promote 5G development into a new stage.