The mobile phone signal disappears, voice transmission fails, and live broadcast is interrupted... In the future, the network roaming problem caused by weak communication signals like this is expected to be greatly improved.

Recently, China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Radio and Television jointly announced the launch of the commercial promotion of 5G cross network roaming - when the operators do not have 5G network coverage, users can automatically switch and use the 5G network services of other operators without changing cards or numbers.

It is understood that in May last year, under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the above four basic telecom enterprises have taken the lead in launching the world's first 5G roaming trial in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In the past year, with the cooperation of relevant units in the industry, all prefectures and cities in Xinjiang have achieved full coverage of 5G roaming services across different networks, supported 400 terminals, and the number of roaming users, roaming data volume, and roaming call duration in a single day exceeded 34000, 2000GB, and 200 hours, respectively.

Now, whether in Urumqi, the capital, or in Koktohai pastoral area in Altay, 5G base stations are more and more widely covered in Xinjiang, laying a solid "foundation" for the commercial promotion of 5G roaming across different networks. In February this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reported the construction of gigabit cities in 2023, and Altay became one of the five gigabit cities in Xinjiang. More and more users have gradually entered the "dual gigabit era" of "gigabit 5G for going out, gigabit optical network broadband for going in, and gigabit Wi Fi for the whole family".

"The trial commercial use in Xinjiang has improved the technical foundation of the service and management system and laid a solid foundation for the official commercial promotion of 5G roaming across the country," said Wang Zhiqin, vice president of the China Information and Communication Research Institute.

By the end of March 2024, a total of 3.647 million 5G base stations have been built nationwide, and the penetration rate of 5G users has exceeded 60%. According to relevant requirements, from November 1, 2023, all new 5G mobile phones will support 5G roaming across networks, and terminal enterprises are encouraged to upgrade existing mobile phones to support 5G roaming across networks by updating system software and other methods.

"Launching the commercial promotion of 5G off network roaming is a specific practice to meet people's yearning for a better digital life, and also an important measure to accelerate industrial digital empowerment." Wang Zhiqin stressed that 5G off network roaming is of great significance in reducing signal blind areas, improving user experience, and accelerating 5G network coverage, especially in remote and rural areas. (Intern Shi Zixiao also contributed to this article)

Chief planner: Sun Haifeng

Producer: Zhang Feiran Xie Ting

Supervisor: Lv Qian

Planner: Chen Jian, Li Jia

Reporter: Shen Jiaping

Camera: Ren Fengtao

Editor: Wu Ting

Designer: Lin Shanshan

Package: Zhao Chen

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