5G in 2020: From the largest to the strongest, 5G construction demonstrates "China speed"

In the extremely difficult year of 2020, when the century-long epidemic and the century-long changes are intertwined, China's development performance has become a bright spot in the gloom of the global economy. Especially in the information and communication industry, China has become a veritable 5G network power. In the past year, with the joint efforts of the industrial chain, China has handed in a heavy 5G answer sheet.

This is a satisfactory answer - in 2020, China has built the world's largest 5G network. This year, my country's 5G network construction has been steadily advancing, with about 580,000 new 5G base stations added, 330,000 shared 5G base stations built, and a total of 718,000 5G base stations built.

This is also an answer sheet that has attracted worldwide attention - China's 5G network has achieved five "world firsts": the world's first and largest jointly built and shared 5G network; the world's first 200 MHz large-bandwidth high-performance 5G network; the world's first TDD+FDD hybrid networking 5G network; the world's first and largest-scale 5G SA network; the world's first 5G SA shared network.

Time flies. In the past 366 days, China's 5G network construction has been advancing by leaps and bounds. At the end of September, my country had completed the 2020 5G base station construction target ahead of schedule. Not only did it eliminate the negative impact of the epidemic with practical actions, but it also steadily promoted 5G network construction in accordance with the principle of moderate advancement, closely followed the needs of different scenarios, built on demand, and covered in depth to create a high-quality 5G network.

Digital witnesses development: 580,000 new 5G base stations were added throughout the year

Since the beginning of the year, affected by the epidemic and market downturn at home and abroad, the pressure on China's economy in 2020 was extraordinary. On April 20, at a regular press conference held by the National Development and Reform Commission, the new infrastructure was officially defined.

As a major change point in the field of mobile communications, 5G has become the leading field of new infrastructure and a new driving force for economic development. All major emerging industries that my country focuses on developing need 5G as an industrial support. Strong policy support will escort 5G construction. Basic telecommunications companies that undertake construction tasks are working at full capacity, and 5G network construction is accelerating into the "fast lane".

In the past year, although the progress of 5G commercialization in some countries or regions around the world was negatively affected by the epidemic, overall 5G commercial networks still achieved significant expansion in 2020.

GSMA believes that: At present, the global 5G construction has not been greatly affected by the epidemic. As of September 2020, 107 operators have commercialized 5G networks in 47 countries/regions, and 18 operators have commercialized 5G in Q3. It is expected that by the end of 2020, 149 operators will have commercialized 5G networks in 57 countries and regions.

In China, the development of 5G network construction is advancing by leaps and bounds. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, the figures that have been constantly refreshed have confirmed the pace of 5G construction:

By the end of March, China Mobile had more than 80,000 5G base stations; China Telecom had built 40,000 5G base stations and shared more than 20,000 with China Unicom. The number of 5G base stations in use exceeded 60,000, covering key areas in more than 50 cities.

By the end of June, the three major operators had built and opened more than 400,000 5G base stations across the country, with an average of more than 15,000 new base stations opened every week.

By the end of September, my country had built 690,000 5G base stations. China Mobile achieved its annual target and completed 350,000 5G base station construction projects across the country.

By the end of December, my country had added approximately 580,000 new 5G base stations and built 330,000 shared 5G base stations, and the goal of 5G coverage in all cities and counties has been achieved.

Previously, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that China has built the world's largest 5G network, with a total of 718,000 5G base stations. According to the law, 2020-2024 will be the period of large-scale construction of 5G networks; 2025-2028 will be the period of improvement of 5G network construction; and 6G will be introduced around 2029.

也就是说，在 5G 建设的第一场攻坚战中，我国获得了绝对领先的优势，为下一步 5G 大规模商业化奠定了基础。高通公司中国区董事长孟樸曾评价说：“ 5G 在全球的发展非常迅速，特别是和以往 3G/4G 相比，5G 布网的速度非常快。这也是中国第一次在新技术演进的时候，领先全球开始部署 5G。从产业链的角度来讲，高通公司也一直与中国合作伙伴一起努力推动中国 5G 的发展。”

From the largest to the strongest: 5G SA network is first put into use

Over the past year, my country's 5G network scale has taken the lead. On this basis, independent networking (SA) has become a new goal for 5G development. The three major domestic operators have accelerated their evolution towards 5G SA. This is a new stage for my country to lead the development of 5G and a top priority for the development of 5G new infrastructure.

In March 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Promoting the Accelerated Development of 5G", which pointed out that it supports basic telecommunications companies to take 5G independent networking (SA) as the goal, control the scale of non-independent networking (NSA) construction, accelerate network construction in major cities, and gradually extend coverage to key counties and towns with conditions.

It is reported that 5G SA innovates from multiple dimensions of architecture, technology, and services, and can better meet the diversified scenario needs of vertical industries: the independent networking architecture introduces service-oriented, software-oriented, and intelligent concepts, which can be plug-and-play to ensure user experience; new technologies such as network slicing, edge computing, and uplink enhancement bring powerful industry support capabilities to the network; at the same time, it brings customized, open, and professional service capabilities, laying the foundation for the formation of a new business win-win model.

Today, the world's leading operators are actively evolving and deploying SA independent networks. The latest GSMA report shows that as of August this year, 47 operators in 24 countries around the world are investing in the construction of 5G SA public networks. Powerful 5G network expansion will become an important infrastructure for the digital transformation of the industry in the future.

In 2020, the three major domestic operators continued to make efforts in the field of independent networking, and the construction progress far exceeded that of other countries. At China Mobile's 2020 Global Partner Conference, China Mobile stated that it has built the world's largest 5G independent networking network, which can provide 5G SA services to all prefecture-level cities and some key counties in the country. On November 27, China Mobile Hong Kong announced that it has officially realized commercial 5G independent networking, helping Hong Kong build a world-class smart city.

Prior to this, China Telecom had taken the lead in announcing the large-scale commercial use of 5G SA networking. China Telecom has always been a practitioner of 5G independent networking. As early as February, China Telecom announced that it had taken the lead in the industry to complete the whole system performance verification of 5G SA core network commercial equipment. At the same time, 5G end-to-end system function verification and interoperability testing of different manufacturers were basically completed, promoting the commercialization of 5G SA equipment in terms of function, performance and multi-vendor networking, laying the foundation for the large-scale deployment of 5G SA.

As partners in 5G co-construction and sharing, China Unicom and China Telecom have set independent networking SA as the development direction and target architecture of 5G at the beginning of their cooperation, and have carried out special efforts to this end, coordinating with various chip and terminal manufacturers to carry out end-to-end cross-network compatibility testing and verification. At present, Unicom has taken the lead in driving the SA capabilities of networks and terminals in many provinces, fully supporting the development of new toB markets, and becoming one of the first operators in the world to realize SA commercialization.

The greatest value of 5G lies in its deep integration with the industry, empowering thousands of industries. With the realization of 5G independent networking commercial capabilities across the country, more and more users will enjoy the changes that 5G brings to their lives, and 5G empowering thousands of industries will also turn from vision into reality.

Creating a historical precedent - Telecommunication Union achieves remarkable results in joint construction and sharing

There is no doubt that China is already a world leader in the 5G field, but it is precisely because of this that there is no precedent to learn from, and it can only continue to explore. For example, the 5G co-construction and sharing model of China Telecom and China Unicom is the first in the world, with high technical difficulty, and is extremely innovative and challenging.

On September 9, 2019, China Telecom and China Unicom signed the "5G Network Co-construction and Sharing Framework Cooperation Agreement", announcing that the two parties will cooperate to build a 5G access network and jointly promote 5G network deployment.

China Telecom and China Unicom have pioneered the co-construction and sharing of 5G networks. Since the formal co-construction and sharing agreement was reached in 2019, the two parties have worked together to promote the deployment of 5G networks, quickly launched 5G co-construction and sharing in 31 provinces across the country, and realized the official commercial use of 5G in more than 50 cities. On the other hand, they have actively promoted the technological evolution of 5G networks and opened the world's first 5G SA shared base station.