China Mobile launched its commercial 5G service three years ago. Since then, the company has been leading in 5G technology development and deployment, and achieved significant milestones: applied for over 3,600 5G patents; deployed 1.25 million 5G base stations to form the world’s largest and most comprehensive 5G network; acquired 557 million 5G subscribers, delivering outstanding service to a vast number of citizens; implemented over 15,000 commercial 5G projects, enabling enterprises with seamless connectivity across a wide range of industries; and collaborated with over 1,400 industrial partners to innovate solutions for the new digital economy.
China Mobile has accelerated the construction of a high-speed information highway and strived to build a high ground to nurture innovation since the launch of the commercial 5G service in China in October 2019. From 5G network deployment, communications service advancements to digital-intelligent transformation and industry supply chain development, China Mobile is at the forefront to drive innovation and development on all fronts, taking the lead to build a digital and smart society in China.
Personal commitment makes a difference
China Mobile cannot strive without the commitment shown by its employees. A good example is where, on a remote island off the coast of the Yellow Sea, a field engineer, Wu Weiguo, climbed up a 25-meter-tall communication tower to set up a 5G base station and reported 280.48Mbps download and 179.16Mbps upload speeds. It is the most remote 5G base station in the Jiangsu province, connecting to a 12-km-long submarine cable and covering nearby sea areas with connectivity 10 times faster than the 4G network. It was one of many precious moments in the past three years, also example of commitment demonstrated by China Mobile engineers who work hard to build a sophisticated advanced 5G network across China.
Since the commercial 5G service launch, China Mobile committed to building the highest quality mobile network and implement its “5G+” strategy. China Mobile’s 5G network is now the world's largest 5G network with numerous leading technologies and services. The network provides high-speed, secured, and ubiquitous connectivity to people and industries across China.
In addition to the exceptional network quality, China Mobile has built the 5G network at a record speed. There was a total of 50,000, 390,000 and 730,000 5G stations in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively. As of today, China Mobile has built more than 1.25 million 5G base stations, accounting for half of China’s 5G base stations and one-third of the 5G base stations deployed worldwide.
All these efforts contribute to one mission: China Mobile aims to make 5G services available to all people across China. To realize this vision, the company strives to expand 5G network coverage to more areas. The network is now covering in all prefecture-level cities and counties. By the end of this year, the 5G network will also cover smaller towns and villages and specific locations such as key industrial parks and campuses, popular areas, and more developed rural areas. By leveraging 700MHz, 2.6GHz, and 4.9GHz multi-frequency bands, China Mobile can extend network coverage to more remote areas.
Partner ecosystem is key to innovation
China Mobile often faces challenges as in certain areas, optimizing 5G network is difficult and time consuming. To tackle these challenges, China Mobile needs to clearly identify customer demands, coordinate with partners to overcome difficulties, and accurately deploy 5G base stations to increase network penetration in key areas such as factories and industrial parks.
In September 2021, China Mobile, together with Lu'an Chemical Group’s Xinyuan Coal Mine and Huawei, created the nation’s first underground 5G VoNR voice and video call services at Xinyuan Coal Mine, using the underground 5G network to deliver end-to-end communications services with high quality and low latency.
Since the launch of commercial 5G service, China Mobile has been committed to continuously improving network quality to enhance user experience. It has been a series of programs to tackle 5G network quality issues, including building intelligent networks and maintenance systems, quickly pinpointing specific issues, and overcoming network traffic problems. With these efforts, China Mobile ensures top-class 5G services serving people in 342 cities. With intelligent network monitoring and a fast, holistic response, China Mobile is determined to bring high quality 5G service to where its network reaches.
World’s leading technology innovation is the foundation of high-speed information highway. In the 5G era, China Mobile has doubled down its research investment in core technologies and released the requirement framework of its 5G standard, an effort to standardize 5G network infrastructure and industry networks. China Mobile is the main advocate and supporter of the IMT-2020 (5G) technology and standard system that has greatly promoted the construction of 5G and future mobile networks.
In the construction of the 5G private network, a series of problems faced by various industries such as 5G slicing technology, MIMO technology, and edge computing technology have been addressed that laid a good foundation to allow various industries to utilize 5G connectivity in businesses. Today, China Mobile led a total of 156 5G international standard projects in international standards organizations such as 3GPP/ITU and led the ratification of standards relevant to R17 areas. China Mobile has applied for more than 3,600 5G patents, and it has the highest number of patent reserves among operators worldwide.
China Mobile's advanced, extensive, and high-quality 5G network enables users and enterprises to ride on the latest high-speed information highway which contributes better social services and power businesses in today’s digital economy.
