A staff member is busy producing cables on August 10, 2023 in Huzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province. The enterprise has digitalized the production process and enhanced the core competitiveness of products by adapting emerging technologies such as 5G and big data. Photo: cnsphoto

China has rolled out the world’s largest and technologically advanced 5G network, with 3.19 million 5G base stations being deployed as of the end of September, which will shore up the foundation for the nation’s continuous progress in expanding digital economy, a senior official from Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Saturday. 

The nation’s 5G smartphone users have now surpassed 737 million, accounting for 42.8 percent of all domestic mobile phone users. And, more than 20,000 5G-enabled industrial virtual private networks were established by the end of last month, Zhang Yunming, a vice minister from the MIIT said at the opening ceremony of the 2023 China 5G Development Conference in Shanghai, Chinanews.com reported. 

Zhang noted that China has achieved a major technological breakthrough in 5G, forming a relatively complete industrial chain covering sectors from 5G networks, chips, devices and terminals, along with other associated industrial sectors.

China has made an active contribution to formulating 5G global standards. As of the end of September, the country was in possession of 42 percent of the world's essential patents declared for 5G technology, Zhang noted. 

Gong Ke, executive director of Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies, said at the conference that the current global 5G penetrate trade is about 37 percent, of which more than 1.4 billion users, or half of the world’s total 5G users, are in China. 

The ministry also launched a campaign to boost continued investment focusing on 5G development and promote large-scale application of 5G, domestically, China Media Group (CMG) reported.  

The MIIT plans to build more than 10,000 5G-enabled factories during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), and 600,000 more 5G base stations will be rolled out before the end of this year. 

Meanwhile, the ministry will continue to accelerate 5G applications in fields such as manufacturing, mining, electric power, and ports management, while exploring more application scenarios in sectors like healthcare and education. At present, 5G technology applications have been extended to 67 of the 97 major categories of the country’s economy. 

Global Times