The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently released data showing that by the end of March, China had cumulatively built 3.647 million 5G base stations, with a 5G user penetration rate exceeding 60%, and 24.56 million ports capable of gigabit network services. "With proactive infrastructure construction and accelerated breakthroughs in technological innovation, the information and communication industry of our country has achieved positive results in high-quality development in the first quarter," said Zhao Zhiguo, Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In the first quarter, the revenue from telecommunications services reached 443.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%; the commercial verification of 5G lightweight coverage across high, medium, and low frequency bands was completed; and the world's first 400G all-optical inter-provincial backbone network link was officially put into commercial use.
In terms of industry applications, 5G has been integrated into 74 out of 97 major categories of the national economy and has been widely promoted in key areas such as industry, mining, electricity, and healthcare. The number of "5G+ Industrial Internet" projects has exceeded 10,000, with application empowerment rapidly expanding into core control segments.
Entering the remote mining center of JiaYang Coal Mine in Sichuan, workers dressed in blue uniforms sit in front of computer desks, with screens displaying real-time images of underground coal mining operations. With a simple click of a button and control of the joystick, they complete the coal mining production process.
"In the past, tunneling and coal mining began with blasting, followed by workers digging with pickaxes and wind picks, carrying coal out on their shoulders and backs. Now, with mechanized equipment and 5G networks, people can operate underground coal mining from the surface, while underground workers mainly inspect the mechanical conditions," said Liu Cheng, General Manager of China Coal Science Chongqing Research Institute. He believes that the biggest change 5G technology has brought to coal mines is helping to build less or unmanned working faces, achieving intelligent operation of the entire process of coal mine development, extraction, transportation, ventilation, and management. Ultimately, this frees people from heavy and dangerous places, which is of great significance for improving the safety production level of coal mines and ensuring a stable supply of coal.
With the joint efforts of partners such as ZTE Communications, in November 2023, the JiaYang Coal Mine 5G underground project was completed and put into operation. This achieved a high degree of isolation between the production network and the public network, local circulation of business data, and data interconnectivity between multiple networks such as the industrial ring network above and below the mine, video backhaul network, and dispatch network. It effectively solved the pain points of obstructed underground data communication, wireless network lag, and poor call network quality, providing high-quality network support for intelligent mining remote control.
"With the joint promotion of 5G networks and intelligent mining equipment, the mining work that used to require more than 20 people can now be completed by just 2 people, achieving the same coal output. 'Replacing people with mechanization and reducing personnel with automation' is our purpose in building smart mines. We liberate workers from unsafe positions and also significantly reduce their labor intensity," said Fan Qinying, General Manager of JiaYang Group.
"We will further consolidate and enhance the competitive advantage and leading position of the information and communication industry, accelerate the integration of 5G with big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and other technologies, continue to promote the evolution of 5G-A and 5G lightweight technologies and product research and development, strengthen technology reserves, and increase the research and development efforts for 6G and 10-gigabit optical networks," said Zhao Zhiguo.
The "China 5G Development and Economic and Social Impact White Paper (2023)" released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology believes that 5G-A plays a bridging role in the evolution from 5G to 6G, defining new goals and providing new capabilities for 5G in personal and industry application development, and unleashing the multiplicative effect of 5G on economic and social development.
Not long ago, China Mobile Beijing Company completed 5G-A network coverage on the Yongchang Road section of the Beijing Yizhuang High-Level Autonomous Driving Demonstration Area, which is Beijing's first vehicle networking test road that simultaneously deployed 5G-A network and vehicle-network computing power collaboration technology. Along the 5-kilometer-long road, Beijing Mobile built a 5G-A vehicle networking network with 19 base stations, providing strong support for the rapid development and application of autonomous driving technology with ultra-large bandwidth and stable low latency.
Man Lin, General Manager of the Economic and Technological Development Zone Marketing Service Center of China Mobile Beijing Company, told reporters that the 5G-A network supports massive data transmission. For example, daily AI training data for unmanned vehicles can now be "freely transmitted," changing from uploading only during idle nighttime hours to real-time backhaul to the computing power platform, helping unmanned vehicles achieve rapid iteration and upgrades of driving maps, driving modes, and behavior models. In addition, by combining 5G-A base stations with edge computing power, data is processed in real-time while pushing training inference capabilities to vehicles, saving vehicles more than 30% of computing power consumption and allowing unmanned vehicles to operate more smoothly and safely, executing real-time commands such as remote troubleshooting more flexibly.
"2023 is a key year for the establishment of international standards for 5G-A. We should use the new capabilities of 5G-A to lead the innovative development of the industry, release the value of 5G-A through cross-border integration, and build a 5G-A innovation ecosystem through open cooperation," suggested Wen Ku, Chairman of the China Communications Standards Association.
Zhao Zhiguo stated that next, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will accelerate the research and development applications of big data and artificial intelligence, carry out the "Artificial Intelligence+" action, and continue to accelerate the scaled application of the industrial internet. Policies and opinions on innovating the management of the information and communication industry and optimizing the business environment will be introduced to better serve business entities. Technical support capabilities will be strengthened, the level of industry network and data security management will be improved, and the innovation and development of the network and data security industry will be promoted.
