In January this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other 11 departments jointly issued a notice to carry out a special action of "signal upgrading". Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology once again organized relevant departments to hold a video and telephone conference to promote the special action of "signal upgrading", and through the construction and optimization of communication networks and base stations, the 4G and 5G signals of mobile networks have been significantly enhanced, and the network has deep coverage, so as to support the digital transformation needs of key industries.
At present, the 5G network coverage in mainland China has changed from "city-to-city" to "county-to-county" and continues to extend to towns and administrative villages. With the launch of the "signal upgrade" operation, there are also 5G signals in the uninhabited areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
5G flies into the no-man's-land of Hoh Xil
Drive nearly 300 kilometers from Golmud, Qinghai, through vast mountains and the vast Gobi, after 11 hours of bumpy ride. The reporter came to Zhuo Nai Lake, which is located in the hinterland of Hoh Xil.
At an altitude of 4,800 meters above sea level, there is the only communication base station in the entire Hoh Xil uninhabited area, and now this communication base station has been able to provide 5G+4K signal transmission services.
Zhuo Nai Lake is the main area of the Tibetan antelope, a national first-class protected animal, and is known as the "Tibetan antelope delivery room", which is an important observation point for the protection of Tibetan antelope. When the reporter arrived at the protection station, it was already evening, and the deputy head of the protection station, Cai Suojia, had a video call with the children after a meeting with the patrol team.
"In the past, whether we were patrolling the mountains or stationing, there was no signal as soon as we went out from National Highway 109, but now with this network, I feel like my family is by my side. Cai Suojia told reporters that the total area of the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve is 45,000 square kilometers, and in the past, only five villages around Chari Cuo Lake in the south of the reserve and along the 109 National Highway were covered by communication signals, and there was no network in other areas.
From May to July every year, Tibetan antelopes will migrate to Zhuo Nai Lake to give birth.
During this period, the patrol members of the protection station should strengthen the follow-up, observation and monitoring of the Tibetan antelope population. With the opening of the 5G signal at the protection station and the realization of high-definition video backhaul, the scientific researchers of the Sanjiangyuan National Park Administration in Xining, Qinghai Province, can also remotely watch the situation of Zhuonai Lake through the large screen, changing the previous work mode of relying solely on manual patrols and reducing the work burden of the patrol members.
At present, the 7-kilometer area around the Zhuo Nai Lake Protection Station has been connected to the 5G network, and the Internet transmission rate can reach up to 800 megabytes.
Helping to build a 5G smart salt lake
The "signal upgrade" not only provides 5G signals in the uninhabited area of Hoh Xil, but also accelerates the digital transformation of various industries on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Asia's largest salt lake, Zarkhan Salt Lake, was once a no-man's land, but with the launch of the signal upgrade operation, it has been covered by 5G networks.
In the salt lake mining area, the reporter saw that communication construction personnel were upgrading the base station by the salt lake.
At present, 110 square kilometers of the Zarkhan salt lake mining area have achieved full 5G coverage. The 5G transmission rate has met the requirements of remote industrial-grade control. In the future, the 5G network will be used to gradually and comprehensively promote unmanned driving, unmanned monitoring and intelligent management, and build an intelligent digital salt lake production system.