May 17 is another World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. Since 1969, every year on this day, members of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), including China, have held thematic activities to emphasize the role of telecommunications in the development of the national economy and people's lives, and to promote the healthy development of the information and communication industry and inclusive sharing.
Over the past 50 years, the theme of World Telecommunication Day has changed, reflecting that information communication has moved from the original technical means to digital enabling infrastructure. Looking at the World Telecommunication Day over the years, it can be found that the themes from 1970 to 1980 are very similar to those from 1990 to 2000. Whether telecommunications and training, transportation, meteorology, telecommunications and industrial development, culture, environment, etc., they all emphasize the changes of communication technology to economic development and social life. The theme of "mobile communication" in 2000 announced the arrival of the mobile communication era. In 2001, "Internet: challenges, opportunities and prospects" has initially demonstrated the innovative breakthroughs brought by communication networks as Internet infrastructure. The theme of this year's World Telecommunication Day is "digital innovation for sustainable development", which is clearly the foundation of information and communication as a digital economy and the cornerstone of high-quality development.
There is also constancy in the change, that is, narrowing the digital divide. The initial attempt to narrow the digital divide focused more on universal telecommunications services, so that anyone can enjoy telecommunications services at affordable prices anywhere. It is under this goal that China has achieved "city to city connection of gigabit", "county to county connection of 5G" and "village to village connection of broadband". The level of network coverage in remote rural areas has continued to improve, the scale of rural broadband users has continued to expand, and rural cities have "same network and same speed". In today's digital era, the rapid development of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and the Internet of Things has brought about a gap in economic and social development and created a new digital divide.
We should face up to the still existing and even growing digital divide. In China, the digital divide includes the digital divide between urban and rural areas, between regions, and between industries. From the perspective of urban and rural areas, the digital divide has changed from the access field to the gap in terms of use and capacity. Compared with cities, rural residents are more backward in employment and income generation through digital technology, and rural digital talents are also more scarce, which restricts the development of rural digital economy. From a regional perspective, the unbalanced development of the digital economy, which is high in the east and low in the west and high in the south and low in the north, still exists, and shows the Matthew effect that the stronger the stronger, the weaker the weaker. In terms of industry, the degree of digitalization of retail, entertainment, finance and other industries is significantly higher than that of agriculture, energy and other industries. There is a large gap between the digitalization level of SMEs and large enterprises.
We should continue to be good infrastructure builders. Digital information infrastructure is the base of digital economy development. China has built the largest and technologically advanced network infrastructure in the world. It needs to continue to break through key technologies, systematically promote the construction and development of 5G, gigabit optical network, data center, and the transformation and upgrading of traditional infrastructure, and create a high-speed ubiquitous, heaven and earth integration, cloud network integration, intelligent, agile, green, low-carbon, safe and controllable intelligent comprehensive digital information infrastructure, Build support for the development of digital economy.
We should be a good promoter of the integration of data and reality. The new generation of information and communication technology is an important force to stimulate new quality productivity, and it should continue to take root in vertical industries, information consumption, social livelihood and other fields. How to better achieve accurate empowerment is still an important issue. For example, based on regional characteristics and local resource endowments, develop digital industries with comparative advantages according to local conditions, or promote the integration and innovation of cutting-edge information and communication technologies and local competitive industries in a wider range and deeper level. In a word, we should make the cake of the digital economy bigger and better.
We should be a good supplier of information and communication products. Speed is more important than temperature. In terms of narrowing the access gap, we will continue to promote 5G network coverage in rural areas, coordinate urban and rural network construction in border and remote areas, and let more people share digital dividends. In terms of narrowing the capacity gap, we will enrich the supply toolbox of digital products, reduce the threshold and cost of use, improve the level of public services for digital technology to adapt to aging, and promote inclusive sharing of the digital economy. Through more reasonable institutional arrangements, we can truly divide the cake of digital economy. (Source: Economic Daily Author: Huang Xin)
