China to upgrade 5G to 5G-A network

BEIJING -- China has unveiled draft guidelines for the country's data infrastructure construction, including upgrading its 5G network to 5G-A-standard and promoting 6G-related research, development and innovation.

China will balance the deployment of international communication gateways across its eastern, central and western regions, and expand international submarine and land cable information channels. A satellite internet that integrates space and the ground facilities will also be established, according to the document released by the national data bureau on Friday.

The guidelines, which were released to solicit opinions, say that China will facilitate large-scale, low-cost, secure free flow of data, and encourage industries and regions to actively explore new technological infrastructure in such areas as blockchain and privacy-preserving computing, with the aim of providing a low-cost, efficient, reliable data delivery environment for both centralized and decentralized transactions.

China will also pursue a proper computing resources layout, and accelerate the green development and coordination of general-purpose computing power, intelligent computing power and super computing power, according to the guidelines.

The country plans to strengthen the innovative application of emerging network technologies, optimize network billing methods, and reduce the cost of data transmission between its eastern and western regions.

The 5G-A network surpasses the current 5G network in terms of speed, latency, connection scale and energy consumption, achieving a peak data rate level of 10 gigabits per second for downloads and 1 gigabit per second for uploads, as well as millisecond-level latency and low-cost connectivity for the Internet of Things.

Cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have already started offering 5G-A network services in some districts.