Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the latest data on the development of China’s mobile Internet of Things, which aroused great concern in society. Statistics show that the scale of China’s mobile Internet of Things users has expanded rapidly. By the end of 2022, the number of connections reached 1.845 billion, a net increase of 447 million over the end of 2021, accounting for 70% of the global total. The rapid growth of the number of mobile Internet of Things connections means that the development of China’s mobile Internet of Things has entered the fast lane, and the development of industries and applications has achieved remarkable results, which is accelerating the digital transformation and green and low-carbon development of all industries.
Accelerate the Construction of High-quality Mobile Internet of Things
Mobile Internet of Things is the technology and application of Internet of Things based on cellular mobile communication network. It is an important part of modern infrastructure system and digital industrial cluster to realize ubiquitous connection and intelligent digital information infrastructure through multi-network collaboration.
With the continuous evolution of cellular mobile communication technology, China is currently building a comprehensive ecosystem for the coordinated development of low, medium and high-speed mobile Internet of Things, including NB-IoT (Narrowband Internet of Things) for low-speed applications, 4G(LTE-Cat1) and 5G Redcap for medium-speed applications, and 5G for high-speed and low-latency applications. NB-IoT was born in the 4G era, and it can be deployed with any standard with a bandwidth of 200kHz. In the 5G era, NB-IoT has been formally incorporated into the ITU 5G standard, becoming an important part of 5G mMTC, supporting the development of low-power wide-area Internet of Things applications. During the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan" period, China accelerated the migration of existing 2G/3G Internet of Things services to NB-IoT, 4G and 5G networks, and promoted the high-quality development of mobile Internet of Things.
The empowerment effect is increasingly prominent.
It is of great significance to promote the development of mobile Internet of Things, mainly in three aspects. First, it can realize the interconnection of everything and enable data to generate value. The development of mobile Internet of Things is conducive to improving social governance capacity, improving total factor production efficiency, promoting the evolution and upgrading of information processing technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and big data, and promoting new consumption. Second, it can empower thousands of industries and promote digital transformation and upgrading. The development of mobile Internet of Things will help promote the integration of digital economy and real economy such as manufacturing, service industry and agriculture, and make traditional infrastructure such as transportation, power grid and water affairs smarter and more efficient. Third, it can practice green and low carbon and promote the innovation and development of the industry. The development of mobile Internet of Things can effectively support peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality, help monitor carbon emissions, combine with artificial intelligence to predict and reduce carbon emissions, and practice the concept of green development; Promote scientific and technological innovation in key areas, expand new space and new models for innovation and entrepreneurship, and accelerate the cultivation of high-quality enterprises.
Three important trends appear
At present, there are three outstanding performances in the vigorous development of China’s mobile Internet of Things.
First, the proportion of "superman" (the number of mobile Internet of Things terminal users/the number of mobile phone users) continues to increase. By the end of 2022, the number of mobile Internet of Things terminal users representing the number of "things" connections reached 1.845 billion, 161 million more than mobile phone users, and the proportion of "things superman" was nearly 110%. The continuous increase in the proportion of "material superman" means that the physical world is more closely connected with the digital world, the scale of digital economy is growing rapidly, the level of intelligent life, digital industry and intelligent governance is constantly improving, and the process of urban and industrial modernization is accelerating.
Second, the industrial competitive advantage has been significantly expanded. Among the top eight vendors in global mobile Internet of Things chip shipments, the vendors ranked second to seventh are all from China. The advantages of China manufacturers in the global module market continue to stand out. Among the top ten manufacturers in the global mobile Internet of Things module shipments, the top five suppliers are all from China, among which Mobile Communication ranks first with a share of 38.9%, and the top three China companies account for more than half of the global market shipments. With the continuous expansion of the market, the price of China’s mobile Internet of Things modules continues to drop, further promoting the vigorous development of applications.
Third, the application field continues to expand. The mobile Internet of Things has already been applied to all aspects of our production and life, and it is distributed in three application directions, such as intelligent life applications such as smart homes, networked cars and smart wear, digital applications in industries such as smart agriculture, smart factories and smart medical care, and intelligent governance applications such as smart fire fighting, environmental monitoring and smart meters. At present, the number of mobile Internet of Things terminals used in public services, car networking, smart retail, smart home and other fields has reached 496 million, 375 million, 250 million and 192 million respectively. For example, the smart water meter is a typical and large-scale mobile Internet of Things application. By building sensors, processors, NB-IoT modules and other electronic devices into the traditional water meter, the smart water meter can collect and transmit water flow information in real time, effectively solving the pain points such as low accuracy, time-consuming and laborious existing in traditional meter reading methods, and facilitating residents and water supply companies to monitor and intelligently manage water consumption in real time.
Multiple positive factors blessing
The good development trend of China’s mobile Internet of Things mainly benefits from the following three factors.
First, the state attaches great importance to the development of the mobile Internet of Things. Report to the 20th CPC National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that it is necessary to speed up the development of the Internet of Things, accelerate the development of the digital economy, and promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has strengthened the top-level design through 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 Further Promoting the All-round Development of the Mobile Internet of Things, so as to build a good policy environment for the development of the Mobile Internet of Things. In 2021 and 2022, it launched the collection of outstanding cases of mobile Internet of Things applications for two consecutive years, promoting application innovation, enhancing industrial vitality and accelerating the development of the industrial ecology of the Mobile Internet of Things.
Second, all walks of life provide a wide range of application scenarios for the development of mobile Internet of Things. After years of hard work, China has built the most complete industrial system in the world and is the only country in the world with all industrial categories in the United Nations industrial classification. In the process of digital transformation, all walks of life have accelerated the integration with the mobile Internet of Things, and the industry has formed a wealth of application practices, which has promoted the rapid growth of the number of mobile Internet of Things connections.
Third, the extensive mobile communication network provides a solid network base for the development of mobile Internet of Things services. At present, China has built the largest mobile communication network in the world. By the end of 2022, there were 10.83 million mobile communication base stations, and the coverage breadth and depth continued to increase, initially forming a pattern of coordinated development of NB-IoT, 4G and 5G networks, which can provide connection capabilities at different rates and meet the requirements of IoT services and application scenarios in various industries. (Cao Lei, China Institute of Information and Communication)
(Source: People’s Post and Telecommunications)
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