Source: People's Post and Telecommunications Daily
In 2021, under the background of the ongoing epidemic and the increase in global economic uncertainty, China's 5G development has sailed against the trend, played an active role in stable investment and steady growth, and become a veritable "bellwether" of new infrastructure. In the past year, 5G network coverage has become increasingly perfect, the number of users has reached a new high, 5G not only quietly changes people's lifestyles, but also accelerates the integration into the real economy, with the integration of applications to empower the digital transformation of thousands of industries, injecting strong impetus into high-quality economic and social development.
The "Sails" operation landed
Open a new situation of 5G application prosperity
China attaches great importance to the development of 5G, and General Secretary Xi Jinping has made important instructions on accelerating the development of 5G many times. In July 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with nine departments, issued the "5G Application "Sail" Action Plan (2021-2023)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Sail Action Plan"), which put forward 8 special actions from the aspects of standard system construction, industrial base strengthening, information consumption upgrade, industry application deepening, and social and people's livelihood services, which pointed out the direction for the development of 5G applications in the next three years and opened a new journey of prosperity and development of 5G applications.
After the release of the "Sail" Action Plan, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology continued to "increase" the development of 5G applications. At the end of July 2021, the "National 5G Industry Application Scale Development Site Meeting" hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was held in Shenzhen and Dongguan, Guangdong Province, setting up a model of 5G innovative application and sounding the clarion call for the large-scale development of 5G industry applications. Xiao Yaqing, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, attended the meeting and stressed the need to "build, develop and apply 5G well", fully promote the application innovation of the 5G industry, and better serve the high-quality development of economy and society.
Figure: National 5G industry application large-scale development site meeting
The landing of a series of policy "combination fists" has set off a wave of 5G application "sail" development across the country, and local governments have launched 5G development action plans in combination with local actual needs and industrial characteristics. Statistics show that as of the end of December 2021, provinces and cities have issued a total of 583 various 5G support policy documents, including 70 at the provincial level, 264 at the municipal level, and 249 at the district and county levels.
Network construction is accelerated
5G is moving from cities to townships
Under the strong guidance of the policy, local governments, telecom operators, equipment manufacturers, industry organizations and other parties have worked together to adhere to the principle of "moderately advanced" and jointly promote the construction of 5G networks. At present, China has built the world's largest 5G independent networking (SA) network, 5G network coverage is gradually improving, and 5G is extending from cities to townships.
In the past year, local governments have played an important role in promoting 5G construction, many places have strengthened top-level design, formulated special plans and action plans for 5G construction, and effectively solved the problems of local 5G base station site application approval, public resource opening, power supply demand, etc. through the establishment of 5G working groups and the establishment of linkage work mechanisms, providing convenience and support for 5G construction and effectively promoting 5G development.
As the "main force" of 5G construction, telecommunications operators will take 5G construction as the focus of work in 2021. The latest statistics show that as of the end of November 2021, China has built a total of 1.396 million 5G base stations, covering all cities and municipalities above the prefecture level, more than 97% of counties and districts, and 50% of townships and towns. 5G co-construction and sharing has deepened, and telecom operators have jointly built and shared more than 800,000 5G base stations, promoting the intensive and efficient development of 5G networks.
Figure: 5G network coverage is becoming more and more perfect
It is worth mentioning that with the accelerated penetration of 5G into all walks of life, the construction of virtual private networks in the 5G industry has also achieved remarkable results. The 5G industry virtual private network provides the necessary network conditions for vertical industry enterprises in industry, mining, electric power, logistics, education, medical and other vertical industries to make full use of 5G technology to optimize production management and empower transformation and upgrading. Up to now, there are more than 2,300 virtual private networks in the 5G industry that have been built and commercialized in China.
Terminal supply is abundant
The number of 5G connections continues to climb
Terminals are an important factor affecting the development of 5G. In 2021, China's 5G terminals will accelerate their penetration, and 5G mobile phones will become the "protagonists" favored by the market. As of the end of December 2021, a total of 671 5G terminals in China have obtained network access licenses, including 491 5G mobile phones, 161 wireless data terminals, and 19 vehicle-mounted wireless terminals, and the supply of the 5G terminal market is further enriched. In particular, it is worth mentioning that the price of 5G mobile phones has dropped to less than 1,000 yuan, which strongly supports the popularization of 5G.
From the perspective of shipments, from January to December 2021, China's 5G mobile phone shipments reached 266 million units, an increase of 63.5% year-on-year, accounting for 75.9% of mobile phone shipments in the same period, far higher than the global average of 40.7%.
The improvement of network coverage and the continuous improvement of terminal performance have led to a steady increase in the number of 5G users. As of the end of November 2021, the total number of mobile phone users of the three basic telecommunications companies reached 1.642 billion, of which the number of 5G mobile terminal connections reached 497 million, a net increase of 298 million from the end of the previous year.
Bloom Cup "Upgrade"
The quantity and quality of the participating projects have increased in unison
With the concerted efforts of all parties, the development of 5G applications in China has shown a trend of "competing to bloom". The fourth "Bloom Cup" 5G Application Solicitation Contest sponsored by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was unprecedented, and 12,281 projects from nearly 7,000 participating units were collected, an increase of nearly 200% year-on-year, which greatly enhanced the recognition of 5G in vertical industries such as industry, medical care, energy, and education. Basic telecommunications companies have played an important role in promoting the implementation of 5G applications, and the number of award-winning projects led by them accounts for more than 50%. The proportion of projects that have signed commercial contracts in the competition has increased from 31.38% in the previous year to 48.82%, of which 287 new projects have been copied and promoted by the 28 award-winning projects of the benchmark competition, and the empowerment benefits of 5G on thousands of industries have further emerged.
Pictured: The 4th "Bloom Cup" 5G Application Contest
5G benefits the people
The pilot of medical education bears fruit
Medical care is the need of people's livelihood, and education is the foundation of people's livelihood. In 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with the National Health Commission and the Ministry of Education, will vigorously promote the pilot application of 5G in the two major areas of medical care and education, so that 5G can bring tangible convenience to the people and help more people enjoy the dividends of the digital economy.
In 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Health Commission jointly promoted the 5G+ medical and health pilot, selected 987 projects around eight major application scenarios such as emergency treatment, remote diagnosis, and health management, and strived to cultivate a number of new products, new formats and models of 5G smart medical and health care. Since the implementation of the pilot, China's 5G+ medical and health applications have developed rapidly, gradually penetrating into professional departments such as oncology, ophthalmology, and stomatology, and new scenarios such as 5G remote radiotherapy and remote hemodialysis have emerged, and the people's sense of gain has continued to improve.
Figure: Smart medical applications landed
In the past year, 5G+ smart education applications have also been continuously landed. On September 26, 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Education jointly issued the Notice on Organizing the Application of "5G + Smart Education" Application Pilot Projects, focusing on the key links in the education field such as "teaching, examination, evaluation, school, and management", actively promoting the formation of a number of replicable and generalizable 5G + smart education benchmark applications, and guiding the high-quality development of 5G empowerment education. The pilot has collected more than 1,200 projects, and excavated a number of typical application scenarios such as 5G+ virtual training, 5G interactive teaching, and 5G smart cloud examination room.
Transform your industry
The 5G enabling effect continues to be prominent
5G + Industrial Internet, 5G + Energy, 5G Mines, 5G + Ports, 5G + Transportation, 5G Agriculture... In 2021, we can clearly see that under the coordinated promotion of the government, basic telecommunications enterprises, application main enterprises and other parties, 5G will accelerate the "collision" with more traditional industries, spawning various types of smart applications and empowering the transformation and upgrading of thousands of industries.
In June 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, and the Central Cyberspace Administration, issued the Implementation Plan for 5G Applications in the Energy Sector to jointly promote the integration of 5G into the energy industry. In the past year, many typical applications of "5G + energy" have emerged nationwide. Relying on the virtual private network of the 5G industry, Shandong Energy Group completed the "5G" transformation of traditional equipment or equipment such as shearers, tbMs, scrapers, etc., and realized the 5G wireless control of the equipment site and the centralized control center; Sinopec Petroleum Geophysical Exploration Technology Research Institute used the 5G network to integrate high-precision positioning and timing technology to achieve independent and intelligent petroleum exploration applications, breaking the monopoly of foreign exploration equipment...
The "5G+ Industrial Internet" is booming, and converged applications are accelerating. In November 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the second batch of "5G + industrial Internet" typical application scenarios, China has built more than 1800 5G + industrial Internet projects, covering 22 key industry fields, forming 20 typical application scenarios such as flexible production and manufacturing, equipment prediction and maintenance.
From the perspective of the field of mining, in July 2021, there were nearly 30 new mining "5G + industrial Internet" projects in China, with a signed amount of more than 300 million yuan. In September, the number of new projects increased to more than 90, and the signed amount exceeded 700 million yuan, which shows the rapid development speed.
Pictured: Driverless mining card
"5G + smart port" has also become a highland for 5G application innovation. Shenzhen Mawan Port has realized the full-scenario application of port 5G and become a national "5G + autonomous driving application demonstration area", and the comprehensive operation efficiency has increased by 30%. Zhejiang Ningbo Zhoushan Port uses 5G technology to create five major application scenarios, such as assisted berthing, 5G intelligent tally, 5G collection card unmanned driving, 5G tire-type gantry crane remote control, and 5G port area 360-degree operation comprehensive scheduling. According to incomplete statistics, 89 ports in China have achieved commercial landing of 5G applications.
Picture: Shenzhen Mawan Port to build a smart port
In 2021, China's 5G network construction has yielded fruitful results, and 5G applications have formed a prosperous development situation of "hundreds of ships competing for the current and thousands of sails competing for development". With the concerted efforts of all parties in the industry, we have reason to believe that 5G will usher in greater development, accelerate the transformation and upgrading of thousands of industries, and stimulate new momentum in the digital economy.