China Outlines Five Year Vision for Information and Communication Sectors, Focuses on 5G Development

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China’s Ministry for Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has just released a new plan for development of the country’s information and communication sectors during the first half of the 2020’s, that places especial emphasis upon 5G development.

The “14th Five Year Plan Information and Communications Sector Development Plan” (“十四五”信息通信行业发展规划) recently released by MIIT covers development trends for digital infrastructure until the middle of the decade.

The Plan sets the target of the “fundamental establishment of a high-speed and ubiquitous, integrated and interconnected, smart and green, secure and reliable new digital infrastructure system by 2025, to support the development of a manufacturing great power, an internet great power and a digital China.”

5G technology lies at the core of the Plan, with MIIT stating that China will strive to raise the number of 5G base stations per 10,000 people to 26, achieving full coverage of both urban and rural areas.

The Plan also places especial emphasis upon green development, calling for the “green transformation” of 5G base stations and digital centres, and the use of information and communications technology to expedite green economic and social development.

Data from MIIT indicates that China has already built over 1.15 million 5G base stations, accounting for 70% of the global total.

China is host to approximately 450 million 5G end users, accounting for over 80% of the global total, while all of the countries municipal urban districts, 97% of its county-level urban districts and 40% of its rural village districts have 5G network coverage.

In addition to 5G, MIIT’s Plan also covers advanced infrastructure including fiberoptic networks, IPv6, mobile Internet of Things, and satellite communications networks, as well as data centres, artificial intelligence smart infrastructure and blockchain infrastructure.

MIIT will also step up regulation and secure of industry data, with plans to expedite the release of the “Industry and Information Sphere Data Security Administrative Measures” (工业和信息化领域数据安全管理办法); establish industry data security standards, and research data security standards for areas including vehicle networks, the Industrial Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.