GSMA Mobile World Congress held in Shanghai
March 2, 2021 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
The GSMA, the world’s largest telecom industry body, held its annual three-day Mobile World Congress (MWC 2021) at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, the first “hybrid event” of its kind with both person-to-person and online activities. The event was planned to be held in Barcelona, Spain, in February 2020, but was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. About 20,000 visitors and more than 200 exhibitors attended the event, but there were few foreigners due to existing travel restrictions. Most foreign speakers like Rima Qureshi, Chief Strategy Officer of U.S. carrier Verizon and Mats Granryd, Director General of the GSMA, delivered their remarks by video. Thousands of virtual visitors logged on to online events from over a hundred countries, according to GSMA.
The GSMA holds a bullish view on the deployment of 5G in 2021, forecasting that by the end of the year, the technology – with billions of U.S. dollars worth of investment – will reach one in five people. This could help the global economy overcome the effects of the pandemic, the Global Times reports. “As we are very proud to note, this is the first physical event after the pandemic,” Si Han, head of GSMA Greater China, said in a keynote speech. As the world is still confronting the pandemic, holding It also fully demonstrated the success of China’s anti-epidemic work, setting an example for the world and rekindling hopes for an economic recovery driven by the technologies, Jiang Junmu, a Shanghai-based veteran industry expert who also attended the event, told the Global Times.
“The country has also applied many new digital technologies to anti-epidemic work, offering new experience to the world,” he said. With the rapid deployment and popularization of technology, China has become one of the global leaders in 5G applications and the world’s largest 5G market, according to the GSMA. China has installed 718,000 5G base stations, accounting for 70%of the global total, Liu Liehong, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said in the keynote speech. The country has more than 200 million 5G subscribers, with 218 types of 5G smartphones on the market, Liu said. Application scenarios of 5G are empowering industries including mining, healthcare, ports and manufacturing, and cumulative investment in 5G networks has surpassed CNY260 billion. By 2025, nearly half of all mobile accounts will use 5G. From 2020 to 2025, a total of CNY1.36 trillion is expected to be invested in mobile construction, of which 90% will be in 5G.
Ken Hu, Huawei’s rotating Chairman, said the company did well in 2020, despite U.S. sanctions. Huawei survived and grew in 2020. In spite of the pandemic, it signed more telecom contracts overseas while supplying more than 300 networks in more than 170 countries and regions. “Our performance in 2020 was relatively robust, which basically met our expectations,” he said in a keynote speech at the MWC2021. Revenues and profits both grew slightly last year. Huawei has signed more than 1,000 contacts concerning 5G, covering over 20 industries. Huawei unveiled a 5G folding smartphone with an 8-inch-wide screen at the Congress. The Mate X2, Huawei’s third folding phone, has crisper visuals and better sound for movies and games. It runs on Huawei’s most advanced processor chip, the Kirin 9000. The phone offers “a truly immersive experience,” the President of Huawei’s consumer unit, Richard Yu, said. The price of the Mate X2 starts at CNY17,999. The high-end model shows Huawei’s ambition to develop its smartphone business despite facing strict U.S. tech bans.
China Unicom and Qualcomm displayed 5G mmWave technologies and applications which may be adopted at the Bejing Winter Olympics in 2022. They include mixed reality smart ski, 8K video streaming, 360-degree event services, and mmWave panoramic experiences, all supported by 5G. In a test, 5G mmWave speed hit 4 gigabits per second (Gbps) onsite, four times the current 5G speed. The economic benefits from the use of 5G mmWave in China will be approximately USD104 billion by 2034, said Frank Meng, Chairman of Qualcomm China, citing research figures, the Shanghai Daily reports.
- KURT VANDEPUTTE (UMICORE) APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE FLANDERS-CHINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (FCCC)
- Webinar: “Knowing Your Chinese Partner” – May 26, 2021, 10 am – 12 am
- EMA starts rolling review of CoronaVac, WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use
- The Global Times warns not to politicize the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI)
- Hainan to become biggest duty-free market in the world