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CHINA DAILY Thursday, November 8, 2018
19WORLD INTERNET CONFERENCE
By MA SI [email protected]
Chinese telecom companies areseeking to maintain their lead inthe global race for 5G commercialization.
They are stepping up researchand development of the fifthgeneration mobile communication technology, which is said to be at least10 times faster than 4G services.
They are also deepening partnerships with various industries toroll out commercial services sooner than later, industry insiderssaid.
For instance, China MobileCommunications Corp, the world’slargest telecom carrier with morethan 910 million mobile subscribers, is planning to combine 5Gwith artificial intelligence andcloud technology for an ultramodern network that is slated fora 2020 rollout.
The company has played a significant role in the finalization of thefirst phase of global 5G standards,which kicked off the head stretchtoward commercial 5G services.
Shang Bing, chairman of ChinaMobile, said: “We will focus on thestandalone 5G network structure,push forward the cloud deployment of the superfast technologyand build an intelligent networkby boosting the operational efficiency with AI.”
According to him, the companywill establish a 5G innovation fundto promote the development andmaturity of fullfledged industrialapplications of 5G.
The senior executive did not elaborate on the specific investment sizeof the fund. But he said the Beijingbased company is vigorously conducting 5G trials in several cities and will start precommercial use of5G in 2019 before the planned commercial launch in 2020.
The new technology will enablesuperfast downloads of “heavy” files like movies, selfdriving cars and streaming of virtual reality games.
“Telecom operators must accelerate the transformation toward smart networks, lean management and platform services, so as to prepare for the 5G era,” Shang said.
China is expected to have 576 million 5G users by 2025, or over 40 percent of global consumption, according to a report released by global consultancy EY earlier this month.
The report, titled China is Poisedto Win the 5G Race, estimated that the nation’s 5G capital expenditure is expected to hit 1.5 trillion yuan ($223 billion) between 2019 and 2025.
Proactive government supportand bigticket investments have helped shape a selfsustainable 5G environment in China, it added.
With the global unified standardset to be finalized in the next year orso, China is likely to advance its target for the commercial launch of 5Gconnections to 2019, to potentially become one of the first 5Gready markets in the world, EY forecast.
Besides China Mobile, smallertelecom carriers including ChinaTelecommunications Corp andChina United Network Communications Group Co Ltd are movingfast to upgrade their networks.China Telecom said it will conductscale trials of 5G applications in 17cities.
The Stateowned company willalso set up 5G innovation centersto accelerate R&D. “Crossindustrycooperation is needed to speed up
the maturity of 5G. China Telecomwill step up efforts to push forwardsuch collaboration,” Yang Jie,chairman of China Telecom, said.“We aim to launch commercial 5Gservices in 2020.”
At an expo jointly held by ChinaTelecom and the US chip giantQualcomm Inc in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, in September, the telecom carrierlaunched an action plan called
Hello 5G to promote an ecosystemwhere companies from diverse sectors can join hands for growth.
Similarly, China Unicom said itwill start 5G testing this year, precommercialize 5G in 2019 and
finally achieve largescale commercialization in 2020.
Ma Hongbing, general managerof operations and maintenance atChina Unicom, said 16 cities,including Beijing, Xiongan, Shen
yang and Qingdao, will see largescale 5G testing this year.
All these efforts follow the rollout of favorable policies by theMinistry of Industry and Information Technology, China’s regulator,which is seeking to expedite thedevelopment of 5G.
Wang Zhiqin, head of a 5G promotion group under the MIIT, saidthe second half of 2019 could wellbe the earliest that China may issue5G licenses.
“We will be among the first batchof countries to issue 5G licenses inthe world, most likely between thesecond half of 2019 and the firsthalf of 2020,” said Wang, who isalso the vicepresident of the ChinaAcademy of Information and Communications Technology, a government think tank affiliated to theMIIT.
In the past, China lagged othercountries in issuing 4G and 3Glicenses. But in 5G, the nation hasalready played an important rolein finalizing the global standardsand raced ahead in R&D.
“Frequency bands are likely to bedistributed to telecom carriersbefore the end of this year, whichwill accelerate the construction of5G networks,” Wang said.
According to her, mediumfrequency bands will be used for 5Gnetworks in the country; and twoof the country’s three big telecomcarriers, namely China Mobile andChina Telecom, preferred to buildstandalone 5G networks from thevery beginning, in contrast to theUnited States and South Koreawhere companies are buildingnonstandalone 5G networks.
Nonstandalone 5G deploymentoffers a way for companies to setup 5G stations by partially relyingon the existing 4G network infrastructure while standalone architecture would require completelynew structures.
“The cost of building a 5G basestation will be at least 1.5 timesthat of a 4G base station, whichwill put pressure on telecom carriers,” Wang said. “But the trend toinnovate and apply 5G in a widerange of industries will motivatethem to move fast.”
Agreed Steve Lo, managing partner of EY’s technology, media andtelecommunications division forthe region.“Proactive governmentsupport and investments in capitalgoods have helped shape a selfsustainable 5G environment inChina,” Lo said.
“China is determined to make5G a top priority on its nationalagenda, striving to take a leadership role in the global landscape. Itis also pressing for participation inthe formulation of the international 5G standard to make China oneof the main players.”
By now, China has neared thecompletion of its thirdphase of 5Gtesting, thanks to the participationof both domestic companies suchas Huawei Technologies Co Ltd andforeign enterprises such as Ericsson AB.
The goal is to get precommercialsystem products ready by the endof this year.
Liu Xuan, an employee of Shenzhenbased BGI, China’s top genesequencing provider, said thecompany is engaged in a projectusing 5G technology to enhancemedical services in remote areas.
“We are experimenting how tohelp doctors do sonograms forpatients thousands of miles awayby tapping into the superfast speedand extremely fast responses of5G,” Liu said.
Chinese carriers wrest 5G leadIntensified research and development activities, industry partnerships mark the push toward 2020 commercial rollout
China is riding the 5G tiger for lead in the digitalage world’s tech race. LI MIN / CHINA DAILY
Such intensive participationof global 5G players in China’stelecom field would benefitlocal players and their Chinese
partnerships as well.Huang Yuhong, deputy general
manager of the CMRI, said: “The5G call was an important mile
By CHENG [email protected]
China will target a largescalecommercial launch of 5G in thefirst half of 2020, promptingglobal telecom players to followsuit, ramp up their resource allocation and expand their businesses in the country, industryinsiders said.
Precommercial testing of 5Gservices is being planned for thesecond half of 2019.
During this process, majorglobal telecom players includingEricsson AB, Intel Inc, and Qualcomm Inc are expected to sew upan array of partnerships withChinese counterparts.
For these companies, crossborder and crossindustry partnerships are the key to the 5Grace, they said.
A case in point is that Ericssonformed a tieup with the ChinaMobile Research Institute and UStech giant Intel in June this year,to complete a 5G call that is compliant with cellular industrystandards and specifications. Thetelecom call was the world’s firstsuch test.
“It marks a milestone with ourecosystem partners on the pathto 5G commercialization, building on our years of research andstandardization,” said FredrikJejdling, executive vicepresidentand head of business area networks for Ericsson.
The Swedish telecom equipment maker also said it will cooperate with China Mobile toconduct a 5G field trial in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, where thedemonstration system will bedeployed and tested.
stone for the commercializationof 5G standards and will lay a solid foundation for China Mobile inour largescale 5G trial, enablingthe success of the global 5Gindustry.”
Intel has teamed up with Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, a majortelecom equipment maker, toplay a key role in China’s 5Gtrials.
Wu Geng, a chief technologistfor wireless standards at Intel,said 5G is of paramount importance to Intel because it will usher in a new era of increasinglyintegrated computing and telecom platforms.
US chipmaker Qualcomm Incalso announced earlier this year apartnership with Chinese smartphone maker Oppo. The twofirms aim to cooperate for more5G solutions.
In a first for Chinese smartphone makers, Oppo successfullyconnected 5G signals and datalinks using a precommercialstage 5G smartphone developedon the basis of its Oppo R15 model.
The handset is enabled by theQualcomm Inc’s Snapdragon X505G modem. The test validated crucial technologies that can be usedto accelerate the development of5G smartphones.
“Qualcomm has helped drivethe development of China’s wireless communications networkfrom 2G, 3G to 4G and now to 5G,”said Frank Meng, chairman ofQualcomm China.
He also said China is an important market for Qualcomm andthe company will continue to beefup its partnerships and relationswith other stakeholders in thecountry.
Domestic enterprises set tone for global fifthgeneration players
A visitor walks through a 5G wireless broadband technology display at the Intel booth during the 2018 CES in Las Vegas. REUTERS
Editor's Note: On Friday, the ongoing Fifth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, will hold a forum on “5G Era: Opening and Cooperation for a Better Future”. In the runup to the key event, in interviews with China Daily, industry luminaries recalled how China’s sustained R&D efforts have helped the nation maintain its pioneering role in evolving 5G mobile communication technology, related standards and the licensing phase.