China has accomplished its goals on 5G construction and development outlined in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) ahead of schedule, said Zhang Yunming, vice minister of industry and information technology of the country.
Zhang made the announcement in his speech at the China 5G Development Conference held in Shanghai on Thursday.
"As of the end of this October, China had set up 4.141 million 5G base stations, with 29 5G base stations per 10,000 people, accomplishing the development goals outlined in the 14th Five-Year Plan ahead of schedule," said Zhang.
China's 5G network has fully covered key areas like government departments, cultural and tourism scenic spots, and transportation lines, and has been expanding to rural and remote areas, Zhang said at the conference.
China has built up a full-fledge industrial chain of 5G technology, covering communication chips, terminals, base station equipment, and facility instruments, with nearly 2,000 5G terminal products on the market for commercial use, said Zhang.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has held seven 5G application competitions, collecting more than 100,000 application cases.
In China, 5G applications have been integrated into 80 of the 97 major national economic categories.
Officials of the MIIT also said at the conference that China will upgrade 5G to 5G-A in an orderly manner, strengthen core technology research, and continue 5G-A technology research, standard development and product development.
5G-A, whose full name is 5G-Advanced, is also known as 5.5G, and is the evolutionary technology from 5G to 6G.
Compared with 5G technology, 5G-A has higher speed, larger connection, and lower latency. By introducing technologies like synaesthesia and artificial intelligence (AI), it can better match applications such as Internet of Vehicles, high-end manufacturing, and full-scenario perception.
The head of the 5G promotion team said that the technology has been used together with AI, the low-altitude economy, energy conservation and emission reduction for testings.
"In terms of uplink and downlink ultra-wideband, we can bring a ten-fold improvement in capabilities. In terms of broadband real-time interaction, we can realize an immersive business experience," said Xu Fei, general-secretary of the IMT-2020 (5G) promotion team.
China accomplishes 2021-2025 goals on 5G construction ahead of schedule: official
