Chinese carriers are betting on 5G

Since its launch in 2019, 5G has changed both the daily lives of users and the telecommunications industry itself, said Wen Ku, chairman of the China Communications Standards Association. Farmers can livestream and promote their products with just a phone.

Following the rollout of 5G, China’s major carriers reported rapid growth. China Mobile reported an 8.1% year-on-year increase in telecom service revenue, with average revenue per mobile user (ARPU) up 0.4% to $6.9. China Telecom also reported a 3.7% year-on-year increase in mobile communications service revenue, with mobile ARPU up 0.4% to $6.3, while China Unicom saw its mobile ARPU increase for the third consecutive year to $6.2.

Chinese operators have leveraged the various capabilities of 5G to explore new business models and revenue streams beyond traditional telecommunications services.

As of April 2023, China had built or upgraded more than 2.7 million 5G base stations, accounting for 24.5% of the total mobile base stations nationwide. According to statistics in September 2022, China had 500 million 5G users, equivalent to about 35% of the population. The rapid deployment of 5G networks by operators has also seen a high adoption rate of 5G subscription packages by consumers. By the end of the first quarter of 2023, the number of 5G subscribers in the country had increased to about 1.2 billion, up more than 40% from about 850 million 5G subscribers as of March 2022. The 5G subscriber penetration rate accounted for 60% nationwide across all operators.

It took 5G just three years to gain acceptance in China, compared to six years for 4G, said Cao Ming, president of Huawei's Wireless Network Product Line. Huawei is currently working on 5.5G, the next level of technology with speeds up to 10 times faster than existing 4G networks.

“5G has transformed people’s lives and work, and has become an important driving force for the development of the digital economy, helping operators achieve business success. Huawei will work with the industry to accelerate innovation and make 5.5G a reality,” said Cao Ming.

The future is 5.5G

On June 27, the 5G Innovation and Development Forum was held within the framework of Mobile World Congress Shanghai - MWC Shanghai 2023. During the forum, the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group and communications industry chain partners jointly launched the "Building 5G Ecological Prosperity Together" initiative, to promote 5G development and innovation in the Asia-Pacific region, accelerate the commercial use of 5G-A, and help the Asia-Pacific digital economy take off.

As the first new infrastructure to support the growth of the digital economy, 5G has been deployed faster than any previous generation of mobile communications technology since its commercial use in the past four years and has become a powerful driver for the growth of the digital economy.

At this forum, Mr. Cao Ming, President of Huawei's Wireless Network Product Line, delivered a keynote speech titled "Seizing New Opportunities for 5G Development and Stimulating New Momentum for the Rise of 5.5G".

According to Mr. Cao Ming, 5G has changed everyone's life and work and has become an important driving force for the development of the digital economy, allowing operators to achieve business success.

The development of 5G will enter a new stage of industry upgrade and convergence development. The next three to five years will be a critical period for the expansion of 5G applications in China and even the world. 5G development is facing new strategic opportunities and tasks.

“5G has transformed people’s lives and work, and has become an important driving force for the development of the digital economy, helping operators succeed in business. 5G has connected people, connected things, connected vehicles, connected industries, connected homes, and connected sensors,” said Cao Ming.

The continuous upgrade of business operations has brought new impetus to the mobile industry to leapfrog to 5.5G. Huawei will promote innovation together with the industry and make 5.5G a reality. The rapid development of 5G has brought the mobile industry to a new level, and 5G new experiences and new applications promote customer consumption upgrades.

Sharing about the future of 5G on June 28, 2023 at the opening ceremony of MWC Shanghai 2023, Ms. Meng Wanzhou - Huawei's Rotating Chairwoman gave an important speech on the topic of "Seizing the opportunity of digital transformation with 5G". Ms. Meng Wanzhou said that 5G also creates new devices and applications that bring more vivid experiences to the future, such as 5G-New-Calling (a new generation of calls based on 5G networks with almost zero latency) and Naked-Eye-3D (technology that displays 3D images in 2D space without the need for visual support tools). 5G is also opening a new era of hyper-connectivity between all things, bringing superior power to IoT networks and promoting the emergence of new productivity models.

Ms. Meng Wan Cho also emphasized that 5.5G will be the next step of 5G with 10 Gigabit download speed, 1 Gigabit upload speed, and the ability to support 100 billion connections and native AI. 5.5G will not only realize better connectivity, but also create incredible new business opportunities, meeting the goals for industrial needs in the fields of IoT, sensors and modern manufacturing.

“The digital infrastructure of the future smart world will be tightly integrated into every aspect of life, every industry and every society. The infrastructure is not based on individual technological advances, but on extremely large and complex systems that converge many elements, requiring system-level thinking and design. Just as when watching a chess game, you can see the big picture; but when playing chess, you need to focus on the details. Similarly, the system capacity to integrate technology and manage transformation is very important for the future success of 5G,” said Ms. Meng Wanzhou.