BEIJING: Cross-industry teamwork is one of the keys to quickening the application of 5G in more sectors, as the rollout of the fast wireless technology accelerates in China, Chinese officials and experts said.
Xin Guobin, vice-minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the nation’s top industry regulator, said that as of August, China has built more than 1 million 5G base stations, accounting for more than 70 percent of the world’s total.
At the PT Expo China, an important telecom industry exhibition which kicked off in Beijing on Monday, Xin called for more efforts to widen the use of cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and other tech.
“The information and communication technology is now getting increasingly intertwined with the real economy, with digital transformation accelerated in a wide range of sectors,” Xin said.
Currently, 5G applications are in full bloom, with companies scrambling to explore its use in consumer sectors such as cultural, sports and entertainment, and in industries such as manufacturing, mining, healthcare, and ports, the senior official said.
But more efforts are needed to promote the construction of smart cities and communities, as well as to improve the informatization level in transportation, education, scientific research, healthcare, social security and other areas, Xin said.
Globally, there are already 176 5G commercial networks and more than 10,000 projects are exploring how 5G can drive industrial digitalization. On the consumer front, there are more than 490 million 5G users worldwide, Chinese telecom company Huawei Technologies Co said.
By the end of August, the number of 5G smartphones connected to the 5G network in China exceeded 419 million, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed. – Agencies
