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On June 6th, China's 5G commercialization marked its fifth anniversary.

Over the past five years, China has built the world's largest and technologically leading 5G network infrastructure, empowering various industries and effectively supporting the digital, networked, and intelligent transformation of the economy and society.

Zhao Zhiguo, Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated at the 2024 Mobile Communications High-Quality Development Forum on June 6th that China has adhered to a moderately advanced approach, promoting the coordinated development of 5G construction, application, and research, and has achieved positive results in the innovative development of 5G. According to estimates by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, in the five years since 5G commercialization, it has directly driven a total economic output of 5.6 trillion yuan and indirectly driven about 14 trillion yuan, effectively promoting the high-quality development of the economy and society.

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Building the World's Largest 5G Network

In June 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 5G commercial licenses to China Telecom (601728.SH), China Mobile (600941.SH), China Unicom (600050.SH), and China Broadcasting Network, officially launching the 5G era for China's communications industry.

As of the end of April 2024, the total number of 5G base stations in the country has reached 3.748 million, with a net increase of 372,000 compared to the end of 2023. The number of 5G mobile phone users has reached 889 million, with a user penetration rate exceeding 60%, making it the world's largest 5G network.

Today, from the summit of Mount Everest, the roof of the world, to the 10,000-meter deep wells in the Taklamakan Desert of Xinjiang; from Yongxing Island in Sansha, Hainan, to the Sanjiangyuan on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China has completed 5G network coverage in all prefecture-level cities and county towns nationwide. The ongoing 5G network roaming and signal upgrade actions will also enable more remote areas to achieve 5G network coverage.

Co-construction and sharing is a major highlight of 5G infrastructure. Zhao Jingbao, Deputy General Manager of China Tower, said at the forum that the key to the rapid development of China's 5G network is co-construction and sharing. Currently, the 5G sharing ratio has reached 95%, and the sharing rate of newly built base stations has significantly increased to 85%, which is equivalent to a cumulative reduction of 1.12 million tower stations, saving more than 200 billion yuan in investment and saving 60,000 acres of land.

Zhao Jingbao introduced that the effectiveness of sharing is truly reflected in helping the industry reduce costs and increase efficiency. In recent years, China Tower has worked with customers to jointly carry out four special actions of "reducing 5G tower usage fees, saving electricity costs, saving site rental fees, and improving service quality to save maintenance costs," which has saved customers more than 6 billion yuan in operating costs; at the same time, it has continued to strengthen professional operations, and the maintenance costs for single tenants of telecommunications enterprises have been reduced by more than 20%. It can be said that co-construction and sharing, while injecting acceleration into 5G construction, have truly reduced repetitive investment and construction and resource waste for society and the industry, helping to further improve the industry's benefits.

5G Empowers Various Industries

5G technology has been a catalyst for innovation and transformation across a wide range of sectors. It has enabled the integration of traditional industries with advanced digital technologies, leading to improved efficiency, reduced operational costs, and enhanced service quality. The impact of 5G extends from smart manufacturing and agriculture to healthcare, education, and urban management, showcasing its versatility and potential to drive economic growth and societal progress.From 5G factories to 5G smart mines, from 5G telemedicine to 5G smart classrooms, over the past five years, 5G has continuously accelerated the digital and intelligent transformation of traditional industries, becoming a new driving force for economic transformation.

As of the end of the first quarter of this year, 5G applications have been integrated into 74 out of 97 major national economic categories. The number of application cases exceeds 94,000, with over 29,000 5G industry virtual private networks and more than 10,000 "5G+Industrial Internet" projects, which have effectively promoted the high-end, intelligent, and green development of industries.

Major industries such as ports, mines, industry, energy, transportation, medical care, and education have actively embraced new-generation information and communication technologies represented by 5G. In collaboration with basic operators and equipment manufacturers, they have jointly developed customized solutions tailored to the characteristics of different industry enterprises, creating a batch of 5G benchmark applications and accelerating the pace of digital transformation.

5G has also driven the continuous growth of new types of consumption and emerging industries, becoming a new increment for economic development. Over the past five years, the scale of 5G users and 5G traffic consumption has grown rapidly, promoting the vigorous development of emerging services such as 4K/8K ultra-high-definition video, naked-eye 3D, and cloud phones. It has also stimulated the innovation and activity of emerging applications such as 5G messaging, 5G new calls, and virtual digital humans, leading to a significant increase in mobile internet traffic and average monthly data usage (DOU). These new models and new business forms have expanded new spaces for economic development and provided new impetus for economic growth.

Conducting 6G Vision and Demand Research in Advance

Standing at the new starting point of the 5th anniversary of the 5G license issuance, continuing to promote the construction of 5G networks will open up a broader space for digital economic development.

Currently, the application of 5G evolution technology—5G-Advanced (5G-A) technology—is gradually entering the public view. Basic telecommunications enterprises, equipment manufacturing enterprises, and terminal chip enterprises are actively participating in the formulation of international 5G-A standards, steadily advancing product research and development trials, and planning the deployment of 5G-A networks in advance. A series of innovative achievements and positive progress have been made in terms of performance enhancement, green energy saving, and network intelligence.

At the same time, China has taken the lead in conducting research on the vision and demand for 6G, publishing research results such as typical 6G scenarios and key capability indicators. The five typical 6G scenarios and 14 key capability indicators proposed in June 2023 have all been adopted by the International Telecommunication Union.

Wen Ku, the chairman of the China Communications Standards Association, previously stated that the vision of 6G is not only about faster network speeds but also about improving mobile phone performance, coverage, and comprehensive expansion into vertical industries based on the speed. 6G is not only a continuation of 5G but also a comprehensive upgrade of 5G.

He believes that there is still some distance before 6G is implemented. There are three key actions to follow: First, it is necessary to sort out 6G technologies, conduct key technology verifications, and not all technologies will make it to the end. Second, it is important to ensure the connection between 6G and 5G, strengthen the infrastructure of 5G, and advance 5G-A towards commercial use with a comprehensive approach to standards, technology, applications, and industries, and to import potential 6G technologies into the 5G-A standards in advance. Third, it is crucial to increase the intensity of technological innovation, strengthen open cooperation, and widely invite international enterprises to participate in China's 6G research and development work.