As of the end of March this year, nearly 1.56 million 5G base stations have been opened in my country, and the number of 5G mobile phone users has reached 403 million. Luo Junjie, director of the Operation Monitoring and Coordination Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that basic telecommunications companies will be guided to deploy 5G base station construction in advance, promote the formation of physical workload as soon as possible, and give full play to the role of investment in driving.

Network acceleration coverage

"All key areas and hotspots in Xiongan New Area have achieved full 5G coverage." Zhang Hui, director of China Tower Hebei Xiongan Branch, told reporters that so far, more than 1,700 5G macro base station construction projects have been completed, achieving 100% co-construction Sharing, the full coverage of 5G in the main areas of the county, the Anxinrong City connection line, country parks and other key areas has effectively promoted the integrated development of 5G and the industry, and helped the national double-leading of 5G network and industry applications.

In the first quarter, the construction of 5G base stations progressed steadily, and the number of 5G users continued to increase. As of the end of March, 134,000 new 5G base stations have been built, the number of 5G mobile phone users has increased by 48.11 million, the supply capacity of information and communication services has continued to improve, and the construction of new infrastructure has been accelerated.

Zhao Zhiguo, director of the Information and Communication Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, revealed that infrastructure construction will be accelerated this year to guide the expansion of effective investment. We will steadily and orderly advance the construction of 5G and gigabit optical networks, and deepen the co-construction and sharing of networks. Continue to improve the depth and breadth of network coverage, promote the completion of the construction of 600,000 5G base stations throughout the year, and the coverage capacity of the gigabit optical network will exceed 400 million households.

"my country's 5G construction is very fast, and this year is still a high-investment stage for 5G construction," said Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of Zhejiang University International Business School.

From the perspective of 5G investment, Yang Jie, chairman of China Mobile, said that from 2020 to 2022 is the peak of 5G investment. From next year, China Mobile's 5G investment will no longer grow and will show a gradual downward trend.

It is understood that China Mobile expects 5G-related capital expenditures to be about 110 billion yuan in 2022, and plans to open a total of 1.1 million 5G base stations by the end of 2022, of which 480,000 700 MHz base stations will achieve continuous coverage in cities, counties, urban areas, and townships nationwide. . China Telecom expects 5G-related capital expenditure to be 34 billion yuan in 2022, and more than 990,000 5G base stations will be in use by the end of the year.

Data shows that in 2021, China Mobile's 5G-related investment will total 114 billion yuan, and a total of more than 730,000 5G base stations will be opened, basically achieving continuous coverage in urban areas, counties, and townships, and good coverage in some key areas, developed rural areas, and key property sites, serving 5G. The number of network customers reached 207 million, and the scale of 5G networks and customers ranked first in the world. China Telecom has invested 38 billion yuan in 5G, and promoted network co-construction and sharing with China Unicom. The number of 5G base stations in use has reached 690,000, and the 5G network covers all cities and counties and some developed towns across the country. China Unicom completed 5G investment of 32.05 billion yuan.

Empowerment is highlighted

From the consumption field to the industrial field, the enabling role of 5G has gradually become prominent, promoting the steady expansion of the scale of the digital industry.

Under the mine, in the electromechanical chamber more than 500 meters deep, the inspection robot is doing 360-degree video monitoring, audio collection, infrared thermal imaging and other work. In the mine, in the centralized control center, workers can monitor the underground gas concentration, temperature and humidity, coal mining and other data in real time on the electronic screen through computer operation, and the scenes of fully mechanized mining, excavation, and transportation can be seen at a glance. This is the "5G + Smart Coal Mine" created by Xinyuan Coal Mine and Huawei.

With the help of 5G technology, Dewu APP has carried out innovation and integration in the trend of consumption mode. The newly upgraded AR (augmented reality) shoe trial has been extended to AR makeup, AR watch and AR trial hanging artworks and other more diverse lives. In the scene, a number of innovations have been achieved in terms of model fit, motion stability, etc., and the consumption scene is truly restored, allowing young people to experience the try-on without leaving home.

The Old Town of Lijiang has built a smart town by adopting Lenovo's overall solution for digital management based on 5G network deployment. Among them, the introduction of 5G cloud-based small stations can help operators save 25% to 30% of the cost of 5G network construction; smart scenarios such as unmanned retail stores, vending robots, and face-scanning passages can effectively improve tourist experience; scenic spots have great digital operation capabilities In order to improve, the effect of cost reduction and efficiency increase is remarkable.

my country has vigorously cultivated 5G and gigabit optical network "dual gigabit" network integration applications. At present, a total of 23,000 application innovation cases have been discovered. For application fields such as industry and smart cities, the first batch of 44 national new data centers was released. Emerging digital services for enterprises have become the first driving force for the growth of telecom business revenue.

Zhao Zhiguo introduced that in order to improve the level of 5G integration applications, the "Ten Hundred Thousands" project of 5G industry application will be implemented, that is, 10 vertical industries will be selected, 100 benchmarks will be formed in each industry, and 1,000 5G industry virtual private networks will be built. At the same time, the 5G and Gigabit Optical Network Application Innovation Competition will be held, focusing on key industry fields to form innovative application demonstration benchmarks, adding a new consumption field track, devoting to discovering new highlights of information consumption, creating an upgraded version of "5G + Industrial Internet", and promoting application scenarios Speed ​​up the expansion and extension from the production peripheral links to the internal links.

Innovative application ecology

On April 12, China Mobile launched a new 5G call product. The reporter saw at the scene that the huge "5G new call products" mobile phone interface on the screen flashed in turn the functions of 5G new call products, such as 5G VoNR ultra-clear call, 5G video customer service, AI voice recognition, screen sharing, remote collaboration, and communication. Features such as virtual number Homo sapiens call.

Ge Qi, an adjunct professor at the School of Economics and Management of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said that this is a successful practice for the 5G independent network to carry the social digital transformation just needed. At the same time, it is expected that 5G messages will be fully commercialized as soon as possible, and together with 5G new calls, we will jointly build an information-based productivity platform for the digital society.

Compared with traditional short messages, 5G messages are multimedia and interactive. They not only contain text and pictures, but also send videos, locations, and even complete payments. Experts believe that 5G news will greatly improve the communication efficiency and experience between industry enterprises and users, and the application prospect in the enterprise-level market will be broader, and will harvest the industry information market of 100 billion yuan.

On January 25, China Telecom announced the official commercial use of 5G news. Previously, China Mobile and China Unicom have launched 5G messaging trial commercial use in November 2021. 5G messaging is basically ready for commercial use, but Fu Liang, an independent telecommunications analyst, believes that at present, the large-scale commercial use of 5G messaging mainly faces two major problems. One is that there are not enough terminals supporting 5G messaging, and the other is that the business model is not clear enough.

Many experts pointed out that the application ecology of 5G cannot keep up with the pace of network deployment and the number of users. 5G has not yet seen a killer application, and application innovation still needs to be broken through. "To encourage innovation and build 5G blockbuster applications, we can reduce some restrictions on innovation, release water for fish farming, and introduce 5G communication needs." Pan Helin said.

Zhao Zhiguo said that governments at all levels are encouraged to increase policy support in the development of digital information infrastructure such as 5G, and guide social capital to support application innovation. Promoting all regions to adapt to local conditions, and actively expand the integration and application of local characteristic industries.

"We will cultivate a number of demonstration cities and demonstration projects for information consumption, accelerate the integration and application of 5G technology with vertical industries such as energy, education, and cultural tourism, and vigorously tap the consumption potential." Luo Junjie said.