Xie Cun, Director of the Information and Communication Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated at a series of press conferences on "China's High Quality Economic Development Achievements" held by the State Council Information Office on the 21st that China has reached 4.25 million 5G base stations and over 200 million gigabit users, achieving "gigabit connectivity in every county and 5G connectivity in every township". In 2024, China will continue to increase the construction of new information infrastructure and accelerate the modernization of the information and communication industry. The basic network capabilities and technological industry strength have been significantly improved. Xie Cun said that China has built the world's largest mobile communication and fiber broadband network, and the mobile Internet of Things is accelerating its development from "Internet of Things" to "Intelligent Internet of Things", with over 2.6 billion end users. The number of standard racks in the computing power center exceeds 8.8 million, and the computing power scale has increased by 16.5% compared to the end of 2023. In terms of mobile networks, the global proportion of necessary patent declarations for 5G standards has reached 42%, and the lightweight 5G core network and customized base stations have been commercialized. In terms of fixed networks, significant progress has been made in the development of hollow fiber optic and high-speed optoelectronic module devices, and new technologies such as fiber to the room have been deployed on a large scale. In terms of satellite communication, the commercial service of "direct connection of mobile phones to satellites" is accelerating its implementation. In addition, more than 4000 5G factories have been built nationwide, and the penetration rate of digital R&D design tools in key industrial enterprises has reached 84.1%. The number of 5G mobile phone users has exceeded 1 billion, the application of intelligent products is flourishing, and the scale of digital consumption exceeds 6 trillion yuan. In 2024, China will launch pilot projects to expand the opening up of value-added telecommunications services in Beijing, Shanghai, Hainan, and Shenzhen. The comprehensive promotion of electronic licenses has resulted in the issuance of 23500 electronic licenses for value-added telecommunications business operations. Xie Cun stated that by 2025, we will promote network evolution and upgrading, improve the "dual gigabit" network upgrade policy, and pilot the deployment of 10 gigabit optical networks; Promote the upgrading of integrated applications and accelerate the all-round and full chain popularization and application of new generation information technology; Promote the upgrading of innovation capabilities, increase investment in 5G evolution and 6G technology innovation, and timely expand the opening of telecommunications services. (New Society)