Construction of digital infrastructure in our country

Grasp the "time" and "potential", and fully deploy digital infrastructure construction

Throughout the history of world civilization, mankind has experienced the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, and the information revolution. Each round of scientific and technological revolution has given birth to new infrastructure, further promoted the development of industrial reform in depth, and led the new economic transformation and upgrading.

He who wants to build a house, first cure its foundation. 

 "The strategic deployment of building a strong cyber country should advance in parallel with the two centenary goals, and continue to advance toward the goals of basic popularization of network infrastructure, significant enhancement of independent innovation capabilities, comprehensive development of the information economy, and strong cybersecurity protection." 

Whenever new opportunities and changes emerge, whoever first grasps the opportunities and embraces the changes will be able to win the development opportunities. At that time, information economy, as a new economic form, was becoming an important way to promote economic growth and an important force to drive innovation and development. To promote the comprehensive development of the information economy through the construction of information infrastructure is an important strategic measure to act according to the trend, act according to the trend and follow the trend.

 The mode of economic development is shifting from extensive growth based on scale and speed to intensive growth based on quality and efficiency. The economic structure is shifting from focusing on incremental capacity expansion to in-depth adjustment of existing capacity and improving and increasing both. The driving force of economic development is shifting from traditional to new growth points.

The new normal needs new impetus. Where does the new impetus come from? "We should strengthen the construction of information infrastructure, strengthen the deep integration of information resources, and open up the information 'main artery' of economic and social development."  Strengthening the development of information infrastructure, and using information flows to drive the flow of technology, capital, talent, and material resources will help facilitate the rapid flow of resources and factors, accelerate the integration of market players, and improve the efficiency and quality of economic operations.

The profound insight and accurate grasp of the development trend cannot be separated from a long period of theoretical thinking and practical exploration.

 "In comparison, the investment in post and telecommunications is less, the effect is fast, the feasibility is large, and the improvement of communication can make up for the shortage of traffic." This is the so-called 'feet are not long enough, you need to use the wind ear'." 

 At present, the wave of information revolution is surging, the Internet, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other technologies are accelerating innovation, and are increasingly integrated into the whole process of economic and social development. The importance, necessity and urgency of accelerating the construction of new infrastructure with digital infrastructure at the core are becoming increasingly prominent.

In 2018, the Central Economic Work Conference proposed: "China's development at the current stage of investment demand potential is still huge, we must play a key role in investment, increase manufacturing technology transformation and equipment update, accelerate the pace of 5G commercial use, strengthen artificial intelligence, industrial Internet, Internet of things and other new infrastructure construction." This is the first time that new infrastructure projects have been discussed at the central level.

In 2020, new infrastructure construction has appeared many times in central meetings such as the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the Executive meeting of The State Council. On January 3, the executive meeting of The State Council proposed "the introduction of new infrastructure investment support policies such as information networks"; On February 14, the 12th meeting of the Commission for Deepening Overall Reform of the CPC Central Committee pointed out that "infrastructure is an important support for economic and social development. Guided by overall optimization and coordinated integration, we should balance the development of existing and incremental, traditional and new infrastructure, and build a modern infrastructure system that is intensive, efficient, affordable, smart, green, safe and reliable." On March 4, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting to "accelerate the construction of new infrastructure such as 5G networks and data centers"...

In today's era, the rapid development of the digital economy, the wide range of radiation, the depth of influence is unprecedented, is becoming a key force to restructure the global factor resources, reshape the global economic structure, and change the global competition pattern.

In October 2021, a collective learning focused on "Promoting the healthy development of China's digital economy" was held in Zhongnanhai. "We should speed up the construction of new infrastructure, strengthen the strategic layout, accelerate the construction of high-speed ubiquitous, heaven and earth integration, cloud network integration, intelligent agile, green, low-carbon, safe and controllable intelligent comprehensive digital information infrastructure, and open up the information 'main artery' of economic and social development." 

 "We will accelerate the construction of new infrastructure and upgrade the level of traditional infrastructure," the meeting said. Promoting the development of traditional infrastructure and new infrastructure in a coordinated way, between the "new" and "old", is the explosion of development vitality and the transformation of development momentum.

Facing the new era, a series of deployments have been launched. The 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Outline of the 2035 Vision and Goals list "Accelerating the construction of new infrastructure" as a special section; The "14th Five-Year Plan for National Informatization" proposes to build a digital infrastructure system that is ubiquitous and intelligent. The 14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Digital Economy proposes to optimize and upgrade digital infrastructure; The Outline of the Strategic Plan for Expanding Domestic Demand (2022-2035) calls for the systematic layout of new infrastructure. Various localities have set up target plans for the completion of 5G base stations in the New Year to systematically promote the construction of digital infrastructure.

From the central to the local level, a series of specific arrangements have been intensively implemented, and digital infrastructure projects that benefit the present and focus on the future have been accelerated, and the "major arteries" of information have continued to open up, activating a pool of spring water in the economy. With the strong support of digital infrastructure, China's digital economy will reach 45.5 trillion yuan in 2021, ranking second in the world.

Create new driving forces and advantages for development, and open up the information artery for economic and social development

"If you want to be rich, build roads first", this is a simple truth passed down by the Chinese people and witnessed by their own eyes. In the digital age, this "road" is showing new meaning and creativity.

In recent years, China has continuously strengthened the layout of digital infrastructure, coordinated the construction of network infrastructure, computing infrastructure, and application infrastructure, and vigorously promoted the systematic development and large-scale deployment of digital infrastructure, which has achieved remarkable results and injected strong impetus into the high-quality development of China's economy.

-- Network infrastructure has developed by leaps and bounds

"Officially opened!" With the opening of the 5G test base station in Dulongjiang Township, Yunnan Province, and the successful dial-up of the first 5G high-definition video call in the province, "Internet + education", "Internet + medical care", "Internet + e-commerce" and so on have landed in Dulongjiang Township, so that the Dulong nationality, which was the latest to enter modern society, has realized the dream of informatization "jumping to a thousand years".

From the city to the countryside, from the mine to Mount Everest, from the island to the Gobi, climbing towers, installing antennas, laying optical cables... China's network infrastructure builders have braved difficulties and overcome difficulties to create the world's largest 5G high-quality network covering the whole country with advanced technology and good quality.

From 1G blank, 2G follow, to 3G breakthrough, 4G and run, and then to the number of 5G base stations, independent networking scale, terminal connections are ranked first in the world, why can China 5G lead the world?

The key lies in playing the "first hand chess" and playing the "initiative battle" well.

As early as 2013, China established a 5G promotion group (IMT-2020 Promotion Group) composed of "production, study, research and use" parties to promote 5G technology research and development, verify technical solutions, and support the formulation of international standards.

Three years later, in January 2016, China announced the full launch of 5G technology research and development experiments, and planned to conduct 5G key technology tests, 5G technology solutions and system verification in phases during the three years from 2016 to 2018. In July, the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and The General Office of the State Council issued the Outline of the National Informatization Development Strategy, which clearly proposed that by 2020, the research and development and standards of fifth-generation mobile communication (5G) technology will make breakthrough progress.

Those who do often succeed, those who do often come, and history never fails those who do.

June 6, 2019 is a significant day in the process of 5G commercialization in China. On this day, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 5G commercial licenses to China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Broadcasting and Television, and China officially entered the first year of 5G commercial use. According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, in terms of direct economic and social contribution, it is expected that between 2020 and 2025, the total economic output directly driven by 5G commercial use in China will reach 10.6 trillion yuan. The tide is stirring and the springs are rushing. China has become the first country in the world to build a 5G network based on an independent networking model. By the end of 2022, China has built 2.31 million 5G base stations; China declared 18,000 5G standard essential patent families, accounting for nearly 40% of the global total.

There is no small matter in the people's livelihood, and the branches and leaves are always related to the situation.

"Compared with cities, rural Internet infrastructure construction is our weakness. It is necessary to increase investment, accelerate the pace of rural Internet construction, and expand the effective coverage of optical fiber network and broadband network in rural areas." 

From the launch of the "Broadband China" strategy, to the full implementation of the information into villages and households project, and the promotion of network speed and cost reduction, optical fiber broadband has crossed the mountains and oceans to connect every corner of the land of China. At present, China has achieved "broadband access in every village", "5G access in every county" and "gigabit access in every city", and "same network and same speed" in rural and urban areas has been basically realized, and the digital divide between urban and rural areas has been effectively bridged.

The strong momentum of 5G development has promoted the mobile Internet of Things to enter a new period of rapid development.

This is an exciting news - China has become the first major economy in the world to achieve "superhuman" country. As of August 2022, China's three basic telecommunications enterprises have developed mobile Internet of Things terminal users to reach 1.698 billion, more than the number of mobile phone users, and built the world's largest mobile Internet of Things network. A series of policy documents such as the Notice on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction and Development of the Mobile Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and the Notice on Deeply Promoting the Comprehensive Development of the Mobile Internet of Things have been released and implemented. In recent years, under the guidance of policy support and the joint efforts of all parties, China's mobile Internet of Things has been deeply integrated into all fields of economic and social development, and the number of mobile Internet of things connections has accounted for more than 70% of the global proportion.

Accelerating the large-scale deployment of IPv6 is an urgent requirement to accelerate the construction of a network power, accelerate the national informatization process, help economic and social development, and win new advantages in future international competition.

As early as 2003, China launched China's next-generation Internet demonstration project CNGI, and carried out live network trials in 2006. In 2008, China built the world's largest IPv6 pure next-generation Internet, and achieved relevant leading technology and application achievements; Since then, the development of China's IPv6 industry has accelerated, and by 2014, 100 million IPv6 supporting terminals have been listed... As the country that carried out IPv6 experiment and application earlier in the world, China has made important achievements in technology research and development, network construction and application innovation, and has the foundation and conditions for large-scale deployment of IPv6.

In November 2017, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and The General Office of the State Council issued the Action Plan for Promoting the Large-scale deployment of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), proposing to accelerate the large-scale deployment of IPv6 and build a high-speed, widespread, full coverage and intelligent next-generation Internet.

In March 2021, the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the 2035 Vision Goals of the People's Republic of China proposed to expand the number of backbone network interconnection nodes, set up a number of new international communication gateways, and comprehensively promote the commercial deployment of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6).

Since then, the CAC and other departments have successively issued documents such as the Notice on Accelerating the Large-scale Deployment and Application of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), organized and actively carried out the pilot work of IPv6 technological innovation and converged application, and comprehensively and deeply promoted the large-scale deployment and application of IPv6.

All regions and departments earnestly implement and further promote the large-scale deployment and application of IPv6; All kinds of network and information enterprises responded positively, accelerated the pace of IPv6 upgrading, and increased the volume of drainage... By December 2022, China has applied for 67,369 IPv6 address resources, ranking first in the world. The number of active IPv6 users in China reached 728 million. China's network infrastructure already fully supports IPv6.

Having an independent satellite navigation system is an important guarantee for the security and development of a major country.

 A global navigation satellite system independently built and operated by China has been fully completed.

This is an unprecedented "Chinese path". From the establishment of the project in 1994 to the completion of the Beidou No. 1 system in 2000, from 2012 to officially provide regional services to the global service in 2020... In the past 26 years, China's Beidou has explored a development path with Chinese characteristics from scratch, from good to excellent, from active to passive, and from regional to global, making China the third country in the world to independently own a global satellite navigation system.

Nearly 8,000 Beidou terminals of various types have been applied and promoted in the railway field; In 2021, the number of domestic smartphone shipments supporting BDS has reached 324 million, accounting for 94.5% of the total domestic smartphone shipments. Based on Beidou's high-precision lane-level navigation function, it has been successfully piloted in 8 cities and gradually popularized throughout the country. Beidou application has been deeply integrated into the overall development of the national economy and has become a time-space cornerstone and an important engine to promote economic and social development.

-- Computing infrastructure provides new driving force for the development of the digital economy

High-speed servers, round-the-clock data centers, fast and smooth network transmission... Running bytes and massive data are converging into a huge force for the development of digital China.

From 2017 to 2021, China's data production has increased from 2.3ZB to 6.6ZB, and in these three years, China's data production has maintained an annual growth rate of about 30%. Like water conservancy in the agricultural era and electricity in the industrial era, computing power has become an important productive force for the development of the digital economy. The data shows that for every 1 percentage point increase in the average computing power index, the digital economy and GDP will increase by 3.3‰ and 1.8‰, respectively.

In recent years, with the acceleration of digital transformation and upgrading in various industries, especially the rapid popularization and application of new technologies such as 5G, the total amount of data has exploded, and the demand for data resource storage, calculation and application has increased significantly, and the demand for creating a new computing network system is extremely urgent.

Follow the law of development, comply with the needs of the industry, a series of top-level design and planning intensive launch. The "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of a National Integrated Big Data Center Collaborative Innovation System" proposes to optimize the construction layout of data centers; The "National Integrated Big Data Center Collaborative Innovation System Computing Hub Implementation Plan" requires improving the level of cross-regional computing power scheduling...

In February 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Central Cyberspace Administration and other departments jointly issued a notice, agreeing to start the construction of national computing hub nodes in eight places, including Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Chengdu-Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Gansu and Ningxia, and planning 10 national data center clusters. At this point, the "East number and West calculation" project was officially launched, opening a new chapter in the cross-regional overall layout of China's territorial space computing resources.

China's first computing town opened in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province; Chengdu Intelligent Computing Center, Lanzhou new Computing Industry Demonstration Center, Yellow River Basin ecological environment computing Center and so on have been launched; Tencent, Huawei, Ali and other network and information enterprises accelerate the landing project in the national computing hub node...... Stepping on the drumbeat of the "East count West count" project, the national computing power hub node adds a new engine frequently, and the computing power agglomeration effect in China has initially appeared.

In line with the development of The Times, make good use of new production factors of data and new productivity of computing power, and let data factors fully flow and data vitality fully stimulate, the Chinese economy is ushering in a broader blue ocean. At present, the construction plans of eight national computing hub nodes have entered the deepening implementation stage, and the scale of new data centers has exceeded 1.1 million standard racks. There are 497 ultra-large and large-scale data centers and 20 intelligent computing centers in use nationwide. The proportion of data centers in the western region increased steadily, and the national computing power structure was gradually optimized. A number of national open innovation platforms for new generation artificial intelligence public computing power have been built; The computing infrastructure has reached the world's leading level.