Yicai:
Ranking first among new types of infrastructure facility, 5G is an important method to stabilize investment and economic growth. What are the MIIT's plans this year concerning the construction and application of 5G? Thank you.
Tian Yulong:
Thank you for your question. Since the commercial use of 5G technology officially kicked off, it has, as you mentioned, played a crucial and leading role in promoting new infrastructure. Due to the joint efforts of the MIIT, other government bodies, local governments, and the industrial sector, China's 5G construction and application remains world-leading. Currently, the 5G network has covered all prefecture-level cities, the urban area of all counties, as well as 87% of seats of townships and towns. The 5G coverage in China is definitely world-leading. This has played a vital role in stabilizing economic growth and investment.
This year is a critical year for the scale development of 5G applications. According to the overall plans of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council, we will mainly continue our efforts for the integrated development of the network, applications, and the industry.
First, we will make solid progress in the development of the 5G network. Our goal is to build more than 600,000 5G base stations this year. As Mr. Xiao just mentioned, we now have over 1.42 million 5G base stations, so we can bring the total number to 2 million by the end of this year. We will constantly expand the scale of infrastructure building, , optimize the layout of infrastructure based on the needs, and cover more key areas such as factories of companies and industrial parks with the network. At the same time, we will improve the penetration of the network into high-speed trains, transportation hubs, shopping centers, and other densely-populated areas, and continue expanding its coverage in counties, towns, and townships.
Second, we will vigorously promote the innovative development of 5G applications. We will further implement the action plan for 5G applications dubbed "Raising the Sail," which is a key element of our effort. We will successfully hold the 5G application competition dubbed "Bloom Cup" to explore more new achievements and technologies and promote their wide application and commercialization. At the same time, guided by the needs of the industry, we will further develop demonstrative application scenarios for 5G plus industrial internet, pilot 5G plus medical and health care, and 5G plus smart education, and continue to deepen and expand our efforts in agriculture, culture, and tourism. We will launch a number of new smart terminals and apps for individual users to further improve their 5G experience.
Third, we will vigorously upgrade 5G technologies. We will intensify research and development (R&D) on key chips and core components, support relevant sectors to actively participate in formulating international standards, and aligning with them. At the same time, we will continue R&D and experiments on 5G enhancement and boost their capacity for integrating with other industrial verticals. We will increase the variety of 5G application products and motivate companies to work out more modular products of different levels and prices so as to meet the needs of different industries, different areas, and the general public for differentiated, customized, and personalized 5G products, and boost the rapid development of 5G technologies through scaled applications.
That is all I have to say. Thank you.
