CNR:

According to the recently held National Work Conference on Industry and Information Technology, the industry and information technology system have successfully fulfilled the main targets and tasks for the year, realizing a good start to the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period. Could you give us more details on the development of the information and communications industry, including 5G and the industrial internet? Thank you.

Tian Yulong:  

Thank you for your question. I would like to invite Mr. Zhao Zhiguo to answer it.  

Zhao Zhiguo:

Thank you for your question. Last year, the information and communications industry deepened efforts to implement the strategy of building China into a strong country in manufacturing and cyberspace and made new strides in accelerating the integration of information and communications technologies with diverse economic and social sectors. The annual revenue of the telecom business reached 1.47 trillion yuan with a year-on-year growth of 8%, up 4.4 percentage points year on year. The total volume of the telecom business stood at 1.7 trillion yuan, up 27.8% year on year. The measures taken are mainly as follows:

First, we have strengthened planning for the 14th Five-Year Plan period and sped up improvements to the policy planning system. We issued a development plan for the information and communications industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and launched five three-year (2021-2023) action plans of the coordinated development of "dual gigabit" networks, the application of 5G, the industrial internet innovation and development, the new data center development, and the IPv6 traffic increase. The plans have together constituted the policy system for the development of the information and communications industry, giving full play to the guiding role of the policies.  

Second, the construction of new types of infrastructure has achieved remarkable results, and the support capacity for digital transformation has been further enhanced. The number of new 5G base stations in the whole year reached 654,000 while the number of 5G mobile terminal connections reached 518 million. The gigabit optical networks covered 300 million households, and the first batch of 29 "gigabit cities" were built, which promoted the development of China's dual-gigabit network capability, users' quality and innovative applications, achieving good results. The industrial internet infrastructure, featuring the coordinated development of "cloud computing, networks, edge computing and terminals," has basically taken shape. "5G+industrial internet" has shaped 20 typical application scenarios, such as remote equipment control and machine-vision quality inspection, across 10 key industries, such as mining, steel and electric power. Remarkable achievements were made in empowering various industries and businesses to transform and upgrade.

Third, solid steps have been taken towards industry oversight, and supervision efficiency has continued to improve. The modernization of industry supervision has also improved. A new regulatory system based on credit is in its nascent stages, and the coordinated national regulatory pattern is being rapidly constructed. Platform governance achieved important breakthroughs. We organized special rectification actions for the internet industry as well as actions to improve user experience of information and communications services. As a result, the compliance of business operations, the openness of the industry ecology and user satisfaction have been significantly improved. We have further promoted in-depth special rectification campaigns on apps' infringements of user rights and interests. We have built a national app testing platform, with the ability to test 180,000 apps every month and carry out technical testing, which has basically solved the problems of "not being able to close pop-ups" and "unexpected redirects of pop-ups."

Fourth, the capability to safeguard cyber security has been continuously improved, and defense measures have been consolidated. We have promulgated the "Regulation on the Management of Security Loopholes of Network Products," established a national loophole management system, built a 5G application security innovation demonstration center, and improved 5G application security safeguard capabilities. We have fully implemented real-name registration management for the internet of vehicles (IoV), and the security management system of the IoV has basically been established. We further implemented the classified network security management of industrial internet enterprises, optimized the policy environment for the development of the cyber security industry, deepened the governance of the basic level of the industry, and made significant breakthroughs in preventing and controlling telecommunications and online fraud.

Fifth, deeply and practically serving people's livelihood, and making digital life more convenient. Universal telecommunications services have been steadily advanced, and we made the historic realization of "broadband access to every village" for each administrative village across the country, helping more people get on the "digital train." For special groups such as rural households alleviated from poverty, we have carried out targeted fee reduction and other related work, saving a total of 8 billion yuan for users, which has greatly reduced the cost of network usage. The first batch of 217 websites and apps closely related to elder communities have undergone age-appropriate transformations and passed the evaluation, providing more comprehensive, considerate and direct facilitation services for the elderly. 5G technology has been used to empower the "smart Winter Olympics" and create smart applications such as smart viewing, cloud broadcasting and smart venues, further enriching the spectator experience, as well as improving event services and venue operations.

In the next step, the MIIT will resolutely implement the guiding principles of the Central Economic Work Conference, focus on development as the top priority and promote steady progress, take effective measures to ensure the information and communications industry maintain stable and relatively rapid growth, continue to strengthen 5G construction and innovative applications, actively promote the upgrading of the industrial internet, accelerate the construction of an agile, accurate and efficient industry supervision system, steadily promote the innovative development of the cyber and data security industry, and ultimately promote the high-quality development of the information and communications industry. Thank you.