Five years is just a moment in the long history, but for communication technology, five years is an earth shaking change.

On June 6, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a 5G commercial license, marking China's official entry into the 5G commercial era. In the past five years, the 5G network in Xinjiang has grown from scratch, from existence to wide coverage, from wide coverage to fine coverage, and has continuously consolidated the base of digital Xinjiang; The 5G application has gradually deepened from individual to social fields, which has greatly changed the production and life of Xinjiang people and is promoting the digital transformation and high-quality development of Xinjiang's economy and society.

5G network base is further consolidated

In October 2019, Urumqi, as one of the first 50 cities approved to open 5G business in China, officially opened the curtain of 5G network construction in Xinjiang, and Xinjiang started the first year of 5G with other provinces, autonomous regions and cities in China.

The Party Committee and the government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region attach great importance to the construction and development of 5G networks. On January 14, 2021, Xinjiang took the lead in issuing the Regulations of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Promoting the Construction and Development of 5G Networks in the form of a government order, providing institutional guarantee for the rapid promotion of the construction and application of 5G networks in Xinjiang. This regulation has promoted the solution of the "three difficulties and two high" problems in the industry development, such as difficult access, difficult location, difficult operation, high site rent and high electricity price, increased the opening of public resources to 5G construction, and achieved the goal of 5G network coverage in all prefecture level central cities in Xinjiang in a relatively short time.

In addition to cities, the construction of 5G base stations is also moving towards no man's land. In snow capped mountains, plateaus, mountain forests, and deserts where people are rarely seen, 5G base stations stand tall. 5G networks and applications are everywhere in Xinjiang, constantly narrowing the distance between people, people and things, and realizing the interconnection of everything.

In the past five years, Xinjiang, together with the whole country, has adhered to the principle of "moderately leading, building and using simultaneously", and promoted the cumulative investment of Xinjiang's telecom operators to exceed 12 billion yuan. 57000 5G base stations have been built and put into operation, with an average annual growth rate of 109.56%. The number of 5G base stations per 10000 people in Xinjiang has reached 22.1. 5G network coverage has been achieved in all prefecture level cities, counties, towns, townships and more than 90% villages. 5G network extends from "city to city", "county to county", "township to township" to "village to village"

At present, the 5G network base in Xinjiang is further consolidated, 5G network applications are constantly enriched, technical standards, network equipment, terminal equipment, etc. are constantly innovated, and the breadth and depth of integrated applications are constantly expanded.

In 2022, Urumqi and Karamay, two gigabit cities, will be successfully established; In 2023, Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Altay Prefecture and Shihezi City will also become a gigabit city. By the end of 2023, the number of 5G users in Xinjiang will exceed that of 4G users. At present, nearly half of mobile phone users in Xinjiang are 5G users.

5G applications are integrated into various fields

In Zhundong Open pit Coal Mine, the "5G+Unmanned Mine Card" project has promoted the development and application of new quality productivity in the mining field, and realized the remote control operation of coal mining. With the help of digital technology, the number of mine transportation personnel has decreased by 80%, but the work efficiency has significantly improved.

In Tarim Oilfield, the first deep well with a vertical depth of more than 10000 meters in Asia has achieved full coverage of 5G signals. The oil pressure, voltage and equipment operation status data of the station can be transmitted back to the headquarters of Tarim Oilfield through the network, realizing real-time monitoring of station equipment operation and ensuring production safety.

The 5G Smart Innovation Clinic of Huashan Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Fudan University was settled in the Fourth Division Hospital of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, so that the Fourth Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and the people of Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture can enjoy the diagnosis and treatment services of domestic top experts at their home.

New technologies also inject new impetus into the construction of digital villages. 5G has made the "Internet+" rural e-commerce flourish, turning the "thousands of rivers and mountains" in space into the "near" on the Internet, helping agricultural products go out of the countryside and increase farmers' income.

In the past five years, the ideal of "5G changing society" has been reflected in the reality and integrated into all aspects of Xinjiang people's life step by step, profoundly changing people's production and lifestyle. The 5G application scenario has led a revolution of digital transformation in industries, agriculture, transportation, education, culture and tourism, urban governance and other fields.

In the past five years, Xinjiang's communication industry has made positive achievements in infrastructure construction, technological innovation, application empowerment, green and inclusive benefits, and has strongly supported the construction of the autonomous region's "eight industrial clusters" and the construction of China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone, laying a solid foundation for Xinjiang's high-quality development.

5G has unlimited development potential

On May 17, 2023, all basic telecom enterprises will launch the world's first 5G roaming trial in Xinjiang. In the past year, 5G roaming service has been opened in all prefectures and cities of the autonomous region, effectively verifying the feasibility of 5G roaming service for commercial use.

On May 17 this year, China Telecom Xinjiang Company and China Mobile Xinjiang Company held product launches respectively. Xinjiang Telecom launched a large number of "AI+" new products, and Xinjiang Mobile launched 5G-A commercial and computing products, marking a new step in Xinjiang's digital construction.

5G-A, also known as 5.5G, is an enhanced version of 5G technology. In terms of upgrading, it has the characteristics of 10 times higher uplink and downlink speed, significantly higher connection density/number, and further improvement in delay and reliability.

Kashgar Ancient City is the first scenic spot in Xinjiang to deploy 5G-A3CC in succession. In addition to significantly improving the 5G traffic carrying capacity, spectrum resource utilization and deep coverage, it also meets the growing demand for low-power, low-cost and efficient network connection in the Internet of Things field.

Xinjiang also vigorously promotes the implementation of 5G RedCap technology. Next, Xinjiang Mobile plans to complete the opening of RedCap for 700MHz base stations in all cities, counties and above this year to achieve continuous coverage. For rural areas, it will expand 700MHz continuous coverage as required. For key industry areas, 2.6GHz/4.9GHz frequency bands, it will open RedCap functions as required to further expand the breadth and depth of 5G applications.

Looking into the future, the continuous evolution of Xinjiang 5G technology and the continuous expansion of application scenarios indicate that its impact will be more far-reaching. The promotion of next-generation technologies such as 5G-A, and the integration of cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies will breed more new formats and models.

The reporter learned from Xinjiang Communications Administration that Xinjiang will further do a good job in all aspects of 5G network construction and development, coordinate and promote the special action of "signal upgrading and digital connection Tianshan", accelerate the construction of "broadband frontier", provide accessible, affordable and well used information services for all ethnic groups, and build a strong network area, digital China The smart society and high-quality economic and social development of Xinjiang have made greater contributions. (Fan Qiongyan)

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