5G base stations to proliferate widely-China&RCEP

Fancy Wang 0104 2022

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Plan is to establish high-speed, smart, green, safe and digital infrastructure

China plans to have 26 5G base stations for every 10,000 people by the end of 2025, as the nation works hard to build a new digital infrastructure that is intelligent, green, safe and reliable, according to a five-year plan unveiled by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Tuesday.

The goal, based on an estimated national population, means that the nation aims to have about 3.64 million 5G base stations by the end of 2025. In comparison, in 2020, there were only five 5G base stations for every 10,000 people in China.

Xie Cun, director of the information and communication development department at the ministry, said the overall goal proposed in a five-year plan for the information and communication industry is to basically build a high-speed, ubiquitous, smart, green, safe and reliable new digital infrastructure by 2025.

The plan also proposed that the penetration rate of 5G users in China will increase from 15 percent in 2020 to 56 percent in 2021, and by then, 80 percent of China's administrative villages will have 5G signal accessibility.

Xie said that China so far has already built more than 1.15 million 5G base stations, accounting for more than 70 percent of the global total, and 5G network coverage has been achieved in urban areas of all prefecture-level cities, 97 percent of counties and 40 percent of rural towns across the country.

The 5G mobile subscriber accounts in China, numbering some 450 million, make up over 80 percent of the global total, Xie added.

The five-year plan also forecast that by the end of 2025, the information and communication industry will maintain an annual growth rate of about 10 percent to reach a total revenue of 4.3 trillion yuan ($674.2 billion) in 2025. The plan also forecast that the cumulative investment in telecom infrastructure will increase from 2.5 trillion yuan in 2020 to 3.7 trillion yuan in 2025.

Widening the industrial use of 5G will also be a key focus for China. Xie said 5G has already been used in 22 industries. The application of 5G in industrial manufacturing, mining and ports is relatively mature, where 5G has been expanded from production assistance to core businesses such as equipment control and quality control. Meanwhile, a number of 5G-powered applications have also emerged in industries such as medical care, education and entertainment.

"In the next step, we will work with other parties to focus on promoting 5G applications in 15 industries that target information consumption, real economy and people's livelihood services," Xie said.

Wang Zhiqin, deputy head of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a government think tank, said China is likely to achieve several breakthroughs in 5G technological evolution, network construction and applications by 2025.

"By the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), China will have built the world's largest and most extensive stand-alone 5G network and basically achieve full network coverage in urban and rural areas," Wang said.

RCEP

Singapore and China on Wednesday (Dec 29) reiterated their commitment to free and open trade at an annual top-level bilateral meeting.

The 17th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) meeting is the highest-level annual forum between China and Singapore.

Held virtually for the second year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it was co-chaired by Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng. A substantial number of?14 pacts?ranging from finance to trade, sustainability and nature conservation were signed this year.

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A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said both sides also look forward to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which will enter into force on Jan 1, 2022.

The RCEP is?the world’s largest trade pact, with the aim of lowering tariffs, opening up trade and promoting investments to help emerging economies catch up. It was first proposed in 2012 and?signed last year?by 15 Asia-Pacific nations, including Singapore and China.

Both Singapore and China have?ratified?the RCEP agreement.

PMO’s statement also noted that Mr Heng welcomed China’s?application?to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), in accordance with the CPTPP’s rules and procedures.

He also welcomed China’s bid to join the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), which Singapore has with Chile and New Zealand, the statement read.

The pact was signed on Nov 15, 2020, by the 10 Asean member countries along with five Asean free trade agreement (FTA) partners. At least six members of Asean and three non-Asean nations then ratified the agreement.

RCEP is the world’s biggest FTA measured by GDP, larger than the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the EU, the Mercosur trade bloc in South America, and the recent US-Mexico-Canada FTA. RCEP is the first multilateral agreement to include China, and the first FTA between China and Japan as well as Japan and South Korea.

After much deliberation, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade pact is expected to become effective today.

The DEPA, as its name suggests, establishes new approaches and collaborations in digital trade issues, while addressing the new issues brought about by digitalisation. Singapore also has a digital economy agreement with Australia, and recently concluded negotiations on this front with?South Korea?and United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, both countries also pledged to achieve high standards of trade and investment liberalisation through the upgrading of the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, PMO said.

Negotiations on this are ongoing and “good progress” has been made, said Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong at a virtual press conference held after the JCBC meeting.

“Notably, China and Singapore have agreed to include a new telecommunication services chapter that would provide a more enabling regulatory environment for Singapore companies entering and operating in the Chinese telecommunications markets,” he said.

“Thus far, both sides have concluded three rounds of negotiations and have made good progress in concluding the investment, services and telecommunications chapters.”

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