In the Service & Software Enable Business Success Session of the Huawei 2020 Global Better World Summit, Liu Shijiang, Director of 5G Business Group Office of Government & Enterprise Customer Department at China Unicom, delivered a keynote speech titled "5Gn Enables Enterprise Digital Transformation". He pointed out, "In the 5G era, China Unicom will take on new missions, create new value, and enable the digital transformation of governments and enterprises customers. The company will build the next-generation 5G infrastructure, enable vertical industries, explore new business models, and proactively drive ecosystem construction. China Unicom have been working with Huawei Carrier Consulting Department in identifying key industries and common scenarios of 5G, driving the development of the 5G industry, and enabling enterprises to achieve digital transformation."
This is the era of digital economy. Internet-backed technologies, which have rapidly integrated into our lives, have become a driving force for economic development, reshaping the way we live and inspiring social transformation. Such changes are essentially supported by the ICT industry. With 5G, cloud computing, big data, and AI advancing together, the era of Internet of Everything is around the corner. As 5G technologies are evolving to maturity, along with growth of the supply chain and user base, Internet of Everything (IoE) is simply accelerating.
Based on to drive China Unicom’s “Five New” strategies with innovation and collaboration
Partnership is the key to success for the development of digital economy in the 5G era . Based on the "Mixed-ownership Reform", China Unicom has proposed its "Five New" strategy. Last April, China Unicom launched its 5G brand – "5Gⁿ, Unleash the Future". This fully demonstrates China Unicom's commitment to enabling the industry and serving users. In the 5G era, China Unicom will take on new missions, create new value, and enable the digital transformation for governments and enterprises customers. Specifically, China Unicom will
Build the next-generation 5G infrastructure and high-performance 5G networks. In terms of next-generation information infrastructure, China Unicom and China Telecom jointly build the high-performance 5G networks. This cooperation has led to faster network construction, more efficient resource deployment, and better services. The coverage, speed, and bandwidth of the 5G networks are all doubled. By the end of June, China Unicom has deployed a total of 208,800 5G base stations, of which 101,800 are self-built and 107,000 are jointly built with China Telecom. Our 5G speed hits a world record of 2.7 Gbps in commercial 5G networks, providing users with better services and experience.
Enable vertical industries. We will work closer with verticals to provide high-value 5G services for enterprises and consumers. China Unicom is integrating 5G with AI, big data, and cloud computing to enable the industry upgrade. We have built core network capabilities such as 5G private network, network slicing, MEC, cloud-network convergence, and 5G-powered smart IoT to enable the Internet of Everything. In addition, we have integrated 5G network capabilities with cloud computing, big data, and AI. In terms of big data, we have realized cross-industry integration by processing massive data in real time. For cloud computing, we combined public, private, and hybrid cloud services with 5G networks to improve cloud-network synergy.
Explore new business models in the 5G era to achieve win-win cooperation with partners through resource and value optimization.
Proactively drive ecosystem construction. We will work with all parties in the industry to build an ecosystem for shared development. As for ecosystem, China Unicom and its top customers and partners jointly launched the 5G Application Innovation Alliance in April last year. The alliance has announced its "5G Pioneers Program" to consolidate resources, identify new application scenarios, and incubate killer apps to lead the fast development of 5G applications. Over the past year, the alliance has made great achievements in multiple fields with the strong support of its members. It now has nearly 1,000 members from various sectors such as industrial Internet, smart city, healthcare, transportation, education, and new media.
After all, China Unicom hopes to accelerate the development of the 5G industry and enable digital transformation of enterprises through these four aspects.
China Unicom works with Huawei Carrier Consulting Department to identify key industries and common scenarios while actively driving 5G industry development.
As for verticals, against the backdrop of "Mixed-ownership Reform", China Unicom has established a 5G innovation center which focuses on more than 10 key industries – namely, new media, industrial internet, smart transportation, smart healthcare, smart education, smart culture and tourism, smart energy, public safety, intelligent ecosystem, and smart sports – to promote innovation in 5G applications. Based on our quality 5G networks, we are working with partners to develop innovative 5G applications, and promote state-of-the-art showcases of 5G application scenarios. As of now, more than 200 ground-breaking projects have been implemented.
While setting out strategy for 5G B2B business, we have worked with Huawei Carrier Consulting Department to identify key industries and common scenarios in such aspects. According to the common scenarios identified, we then built horizontal capabilities and solutions, optimized processes, and created a positive business cycle from market to products.
Visionary practices in 5G application innovation helps improve social governance.
China Unicom has been using 5G to connect everything and big data to empower intelligent operations, improving social governance capabilities and modernizing our cities. For example, we have deployed 5G public security inspection robot, greatly reducing the workload of frontline police. We have also built a 5G-based air-to-ground integrated system for environment detection in Xiong'an. With 5G + UAV and 5G + VR + AR, there is a remote environment detection and management system to overcome geographical obstacles and greatly reduce resources required.
Smart government is another key area China Unicom has worked on. We have built the first ever 5G-based virtual service hall in China for Taxation Bureau in Dandong, Liaoning, to provide remote consulting services for taxpayers. We have also deployed AI-powered robots for onsite service and remote scheduling. Meanwhile, we are using 5G panoramic cameras in the service hall of Shenyang Business Environment Construction Bureau. With 5G, AI, and 720-degree HD panoramic video, the service status onsite can be displayed in real time, bringing better service to citizens.
5G + industrial Internet enables the industry upgrade.
China Unicom has cooperated with Pangpangta mine of Shanxi Coking Coal Group to establish the first 5G private network for underground coal mines in China. Based on the special safety requirements of these mines, China Unicom has developed the 5G solution - the first solution certified as explosion-proof and intrinsically-safe and approved by the Mining Products Safety Approval and Certification Center. With the underground 5G private network, we can obtain precise production data and accurately implement various applications, such as HD audio and video calls, quick data backhaul, and remote device control. Through these applications, we can reduce manpower for mining or even make mining safer by automation.
China Unicom is a firm supporter for small- and medium-sized enterprises. In Yangjiang, a city in Guangdong province known for producing knives and scissors, we offer a 5G-powered industrial Internet platform providing services such as equipment sharing, raw materials procurement, cross-border supply chain, and collaborative design, helping SMEs to solve the problem of lacking sale models, brand influence and innovation.
Better lifestyle with 5G + smart life.
5G is changing many aspects of our lives. For transportation, China Unicom, China Eastern Airlines, and Huawei jointly launched the 5G smart travel services for Beijing Daxing International Airport at the end of last September. 5G-enabled services, like full 5G network coverage, face recognition for check-in, and chip-powered luggage management, aim at improving passenger experience at airports.
In the education sector, we provide 5G-enabled remote virtual services for the China MOOC Conference – a key event organized by the Ministry of Education – that brought students from schools in different cities to the same virtual lab for joint experiments.
For healthcare, we have cooperated with many large hospitals to provide 5G-enabled remote services, making high-quality medical resources accessible to more people. For instance, we have helped establish the first 5G + smart medical complex innovation base in the Liaoning Provincial People's Hospital, which shares its high-quality medical resources with smaller county- and municipal-level hospitals to build an efficient and balanced medical system with wide coverage.
China Unicom is also exploring various application scenarios in the culture and tourism industry. We have developed benchmark projects such as 5G + Smart Taishan, providing smart tourism experience using 5G + AI and 5G + VR, and facilitating industry upgrade.
5G helps fight COVID-19 outbreak and resume work.
Early this year, the world saw the outbreak of COVID-19. Now, everyone is working hard to resume business and production. 5G played an important role in this process. For instance, the construction of the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan hospitals in Wuhan have been broadcasted live on China Unicom's 5Gn live UHD platform, attracting more than 200 million views. In addition, China Unicom's 5G-enabled robots can perform around-the-clock inspection to enforce mask-wearing policy and contactless temperature screening. Moreover, our 5G-powered drone service can facilitate highway inspection during the epidemic such as contactless traffic law enforcement.
Winter Olympics Turned Smart with 5G
China Unicom is the sole official communication services partner of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. At this world-class event, China Unicom will continue to use 5G technologies to create a smart Olympics. We will provide 5G + 8K UHD video live cast, immersive VR experience, and 360-degree panoramic live cast. In the Olympic campus, we will also provide other 5G-enabed services such as smart inspection, smart logistics, autonomous driving, and smart healthcare. Global audience will be able to experience the premium experience brought by 5G.
In conclusion, the development of digital economy in the 5G era requires close cooperation of all parties in the industry. China Unicom will take on new missions, create new value, and enable the digital transformation of governments and enterprises customers.
